4 


ft 


• 

---        ' 


SK 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Gl  FT    OF 


Class 


vol.  xvi 


JANUARY,  1905 


No.  1 


tttle 


Co  Homes  of  <§reat  Scientists 

By    EL8ERT    HV8BJHID 


COPERNIC 


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LITTLE  JOURNEYS  BY  ELBERT  HUBBARD,  FOR 
1905  WILL  BE  TO  THE  HOMES  OF  GREAT  SCIEN- 
TISTS, AND  THE  SUBJECTS  ARE  AS  FOLLOWS: 


Copernicus 

Galileo 

Sir  Isaac  Newton 

Humboldt 

Sir  Wm.  H.  Herschel 

Charles  R.  Darwin 


Ernst  Haeckel 
Carl  von  Linnaeus 
Thomas  H.  Huxley 
John  Tyndall 
Alfred  Russel  Wallace 
John  Fiske 


Address  THE   ROYCROFTERS  at  their  Shop, 
which  is  at  East  Aurora,  Erie  County,  New  York 


Entered  at  the  postoffice  at  East  Aurora,  New  York,  for  transmission  as 
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ROY CROFT     RELIGION 


>MERSON  says:  "I  like  the  silent  church  be- 
fore the  service  begins  better  than  any  preach- 
ing." 11  Go  to  the  Roycroft  Chapel  and  you  have 
always  the  silent  church.  The  noise  seems  to  fall 
from  one's  soul  as  one  enters  there  and  leaves 
just  the  natural  quiet. 
And  there,  there  is  never  any  preaching,  but  music,  song,  read- 
ing, repose,  and  sometimes  the  finest  speech,  for  the  man 
who  gives  himself  to  a  thousand  gives  himself  as  freely  to  a  hun- 
dred. You  can  recreate  and  re-create  there.  Moreover,  where  mu- 
sic, flowers,  pictures,  color,  as  sensuous  joys,  might  tend  to  ener- 
vate the  too-impressionable,  the  robust  beauty  of  the  little  build- 
ing itself  helps  to  hold  true  the  balance. 

It  is  well  when  once  in  a  while  we  fall  in  love  with  the  broad 
beam  and  the  resonant  rafter. 

Reserve  some  love,  however,  for  the  fireplace  in  the  Reception 
Room,  a  real  '*  sermon  in  stone."  But  to  see  it  in  its  best  beauty 
its  heart  must  be  full  of  flame.  Around  such  a  flame— how  they 
claimed  kinship  then  with  ancient  fire-worshipers! — a  feW  of  the 
Elect  were  gathered  one  gray  evening  in  January,  whilst  one  be- 
guiled with  soft  music,  perhaps  like  David  of  old,  and  exorcised 
an  evil  or  an  unhappy  spirit.  —  Yorkshire  (England)  Post. 


TO    HANDLE    MEN 

To  Do    So    Successfully     One    Must  Acquire 
Self-control. 


A  foreman  in  a  great  locomotive  works  tells  how  he  acquired  self- 
control  after  it  had  been  lost  through  the  coffee  habit : 

"I  find  myself  obliged  to  write  you  about  Postum  Coffee,"  he 
premises.  "  I  have  been  a  great  tea  and  coffee  drinker  for  over  40  years 
and  can  say  that  it  made  me  almost  a  total  wreck.  I  am  a  night  foreman  in 
the  American  Locomotive  Co.,  and  have  to  take  my  dinner  with  me; 
also  a  bottle  of  tea  or  coffee.  In  time  it  got  to  be  so  that  there  was  not 
a  night,  for  over  a  year,  but  that  I  would  have  a  headache  or  heartburn 
or  both.  I  went  to  the  doctors  almost  every  week  to  see  if  they  could 
do  something  for  me.  They  said  it  was  the  tobacco  habit  that  did  the 
mischief. 

"  So  I  gave  up  tobacco,  but  it  did  not  help  me  any.  I  got  so  nervous 
that  the  men  under  me  did  not  like  to  work  for  me  as  I  could  not  use 
them  as  men  ought  to  be  used.  I  was  nervous,  irritable  and  would  find 
fault  all  the  time. 

"Two  months  ago  I  took  dinner  with  some  friends  who  gave  me 
what  I  supposed  was  a  cup  of  coffee.  They  explained  that  it  was  Postum 
Coffee  and  my  friend's  wife  said  that  she  had  used  it  about  six  months 
and  that  during  that  time  had  no  headache  such  as  she  was  formerly 
subject  to,  and  that  she  felt  so  well  all  the  time.  That  evening  I  took  a 
package  of  Postum  home  with  me  and  began  using  it. 

"The  result  proved  that  the  doctors  were  wrong— it  was  not  to- 
bacco but  tea  and  coffee  that  upset  me  so.  During  the  two  months  that 
I  have  used  Postum  I  have  had  neither  headache  nor  heartburn,  my 
nervousness  has  left  me  and  I  have  gained  14  pounds  in  weight. 

"  Use  this  if  you  want  to,  as  I  have  got  24  families  to  drinking 
Postum  instead  of  coffee.  They  saw  what  it  had  done  for  me."  Name 
given  by  Postum  Co.,  Battle  Creek,  Mich. 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


TO  HOMES 
OF  GREAT 
SCIENTISTS 


Copernicus 


WRITTEN  BY  ELBERT 
HUBBARD  AND  DONE 
INTO  BOOK  FORM  BY 
THE  ROYCROFTERS  AT 
THEIR  SHOP,  WHICH 
IS  IN  EAST  AURORA, 
NEW  YORK,  A.D.  MCMV 


COPERNICUS 


Copernicus 


rknow  the  mighty  works  of  God ;  to  comprehend  His  wisdom 
ind  majesty  and  power ;  to  appreciate,  in  degree,  the  wonder- 
.ul  working  of  His  Laws,  surely  all  this  must  be  a  pleasing  and 
acceptable  mode  of  worship  to  the  Most  High,  to  whom  ignorance 
cannot  be  more  grateful  than  knowledge.  COPERNICUS. 


174504 


COPERNICUS 

IHEN  a  prominent  member  of  Congress, 
of  slightly  convivial  turn,  went  to  sleep 
on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives, and  suddenly  awakening,  con- 
vulsed the  assemblage  by  loudly  de- 
manding, "Where  am  I  at?"  he  pro- 
pounded an  inquiry  that  is  indisputably 
a  classic. 

With  the  very  first  glimmering  of  intel- 
ligence, and  as  far  back  as  history  goes, 
man   has   always  asked  that  question, 
also  three  others : 
Where  am  I  ? 
Who  am  I  ? 
What  am  I  here  for  ? 
Where  am  I  going  ? 

A  question  implies  a  reply,  and  so,  co- 
eval with  the  questioner,  we  find  a  class 
of  Volunteers  springing  into  being,  who 
have  taken  upon  themselves  the  busi- 
ness of  answering  the  interrogations. 
And  as  partial  payment  for  answering 
these  questions,  the  man  who  answered 
has  exacted  a  living  from  the  man  who 
asked,  also  titles,  honors,  gauds,  jewels 
and  obsequies.  Further  than  this,  the 
Volunteer  who  answered  has  declared 
himself  exempt  from  all  useful  labor. 
Q  Walt  Whitman  has  said: 


LITTLE       I  think  I  could  turn  and  live  with  animals,  they  are  so  placid  and 
JOURNEYS  self-contain'd. 

I  stand  and  look  at  them  long  and  long. 

They  do  not  sweat  and  whine  about  their  condition, 
They  do  not  lie  awake  in  the  dark  and  weep  for  their  sins, 
They  do  not  make  me  sick  discussing  their  duty  to  God. 
Not  one  is  dissatisfied,  not  one  is  demented  with  the  mania  of  own- 
ing things, 
Not  one  kneels  to  another,  nor  to  his  kind  that  lived  thousands  of 

years  ago, 
Not  one  is  respectable  or  unhappy  over  the  whole  earth. 

But  we  should  note  this :  Whitman  merely  wanted  to 
live  with  animals,  he  did  not  desire  to  become  one. 
He  was  n't  willing  to  forfeit  knowledge ;  and  a  part  of 
that  knowledge  was  that  man  has  some  things  yet  to 
learn  from  the  patient  brute. 

Much  of  man's  misery  has  come  from  his  persistent 
questioning. 

The  book  of  Genesis  is  certainly  right  when  it  tells  us 
that  man's  troubles  came  from  a  desire  to  know.  The 
fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  is  bitter,  and  man's  di- 
gestive apparatus  has  been  ill-conditioned  to  digest  it. 
But  still  we  are  grateful,  and  good  men  never  forget 
that  it  was  woman  who  gave  the  fruit  to  man — men 
learn  nothing  alone.  In  the  Garden  of  Eden,  with  every- 
thing supplied,  man  was  an  animal,  but  when  he  was 
turned  out  and  had  to  work,  strive,  struggle  and  suffer, 
he  began  to  grow. 

The  Volunteers  of  the  Far  East  have  told  us  that  man's 
deliverance  from  the  evils  of  life  must  come  through 
killing  desire ;  -we  will  reach  Nirvana — rest — through 
2 


nothingness.  But  within  a  decade  it  has  been   borne      LITTLE 
in  upon  a  vast  number  of  the  thinking  men  of  the  world      JOURNEYS 
that  deliverance  from  discontent  and  sorrow  was  to  be 
had  not  through  ceasing  to  ask  questions,  but  by  ask- 
ing one  question  more.  The  question  is  this,  "  What 
can  I  do?  " 

When  man  went  to  work,  action  removed  the  doubt 
that  theory  could  not  solve. 

The  rushing  winds  purify  the  air ;  only  running  water 
is  pure;  and  the  holy  man,  if  there  be  such,  is  the  one 
^vho  loses  himself  in  persistent,  useful  effort.  By  work- 
ing for  all,  we  secure  the  best  results  for  self,  and  when 
we  truly  work  for  self,  we  work  for  all. 
In  that  thoughtful  essay  by  Brooks  Adams,  "  The  Law 
of  Civilization  and  Decay,"  the  author  says  :  "  Thought 
is  one  of  the  manifestations  of  human  energy,  and 
among  the  earlier  and  simpler  phases  of  thought,  two 
stand  conspicuous — Fear  and  Greed.  Fear,  which,  by 
stimulating  the  imagination,  creates  a  belief  in  an  in- 
visible world,  and  ultimately  develops  a  priesthood." 
<JThe  priestly  class  evolves  naturally  into  being  every- 
where as  man  awakens  and  asks  questions.  Only  the 
unknown  is  terrible,  says  Victor  Hugo.  We  can  cope 
with  the  known,  and  at  the  worst -we  can  overcome  the 
unknown  by  accepting  it.  Verestchagin,  the  great 
painter  who  knew  the  psychology  of  war  as  few  have 
known,  and  went  down  to  his  death  gloriously,  as  he 
should,  on  a  sinking  battle-ship,  once  said:  "  In  mod- 
ern warfare,  when  man  does  not  see  his  enemy,  the 
poetry  of  the  battle  is  gone,  and  man  is  rendered  by 

3 


LITTLE  the  Unknown  into  a  quaking  coward."  (J  But  envel- 
JOURNEYS  oped  in  the  fog  of  ignorance  every  phenomenon  of  na- 
ture causes  man  to  quake  and  tremble — he  wants  to 
know!  Fear  prompts  him  to  ask,  and  Greed — greed 
for  power,  place  and  pelf — answers. 
To  succeed  beyond  the  average,  is  to  realize  a  weak- 
ness in  humanity  and  then  bank  on  it.  The  priest  who 
pacifies  is  as  natural  as  the  fear  he  seeks  to  assuage 
— as  natural  as  man  himself. 

So  first,  man  is  in  bondage  to  his  fear,  and  this  bond- 
age he  exchanges  for  bondage  to  a  priest.  First,  he 
fears  the  unknown;  second,  he  fears  the  priest  who 
has  power  with  the  unknown. 

Soon  the  priest  becomes  a  slave  to  the  answers  he  has 
conjured  forth.  He  grows  to  believe  what  he  at  first 
pretended  to  know.  The  punishment  of  every  liar  is 
that  he  eventually  believes  his  lies.  The  mind  of  man 
becomes  tinted  and  subdued  to  what  he  works  in,  like 
the  dyer's  hand. 

So  we  have  the  formula — Man  in  bondage  to  fear. 
Man  in  bondage  to  a  priest. 
The  priest  in  bondage  to  a  creed. 

Then  the  priest  and  his  institution  become  an  integral 
part  and  parcel  of  the  state,  mixed  in  all  of  its  affairs. 
The  success  of  the  state  seems  to  lie  in  holding  belief 
intact  and  stilling  all  further  questions  of  the  people, 
transferring  all  doubts  to  this  Volunteer  Class  that 
answers  for  a  consideration. 

Naturally,  the  man  who  does  not  accept  the  answers 
is   regarded  as  the  enemy  of  the  state — that  is,   the 
4 


enemy  of  mankind.  Q  To  keep  this  questioner  down      LITTLE 
has  been  the  problem  of  every  religion.  And  the  prob-      JOURNEYS 
lem  of  progress  has  been  to  smuggle  the  newly-dis- 
covered truth  past  Cerberus,  the  priest,  by  preparing 
a  sop  that  was  to  him  palatable. 

From  every  branch  of  Science  the  priest  has  been 
routed,  save  in  Sociology  alone.  Here  he  has  stubbornly 
made  his  last  stand,  and  is  saving  himself  alive  by 
slowly  accepting  the  situation  and  transforming  him- 
self into  the  Promoter  of  a  Social  Club. 


'HE  attempt  to  ascertain  the  truths  of  phys- 
ical science  outside  of  theology,  in  the 
early  ages  was  very  seldom  ventured. 
When  men  wanted  to  know  anything 
about  anything,  they  asked  the  priest. 
Q  Questions  that  the  priest  could  not  an- 
swer he  declared  were  forbidden  of  man  to  know  ;  and 
when  men  attempted  to  find  out  for  themselves  they 
were  looked  upon  as  heretics. 

The  early  Church  regarded  the  earth  as  a  flat  surface 
with  four  corners.  And  in  proof  of  their  position  they 
quoted  St.  Paul,  who  wanted  the  gospel  carried  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth.  In  fact,  the  universe  was  a  house. 
The  upper  story  was  heaven,  the  lower  story  was  the 
earth  and  the  cellar  was  hell.  God,  the  angels  and  the 
"saved  "  lived  in  heaven,  man  lived  on  earth,  and  the 
devils  and  the  damned  had  hell  to  themselves. 
"And  there  shall  be  no  night  there,"  and  this  was 

5 


LITTLE  proven  by  the  stars  which  were  regarded  as  peep- 
JOURNEYS  holes  through  which  mortals  could  catch  glimpses  of 
the  wondrous  light  of  heaven  beyond.  Hell  was  below, 
as  was  clearly  shown  by  volcanoes,  when  the  fierce 
fires  occasionally  forced  themselves  up  through.  Dark- 
ness to  children  is  always  terrible,  and  the  night  is 
regarded  by  them  as  the  time  of  evil. 
Later,  churchmen  came  to  believe  that  the  stars  were 
jewels  hung  in  the  sky  every  night  by  angels  whose 
business  it  was  to  look  after  them. 

The  word  "firmament"  means  a  solid  dome  or  roof. 
This  firmament,  the  sky,  was  supposed  to  be  the  floor 
of  heaven.  The  firmament  had  four  corners  and  rested 
on  the  mountains,  as  the  eye  could  plainly  see.  When 
God's  car  was  rolled  across  the  floor  we  heard  thun- 
der, and  His  movements  were  always  accompanied  by 
lightnings,  winds,  black  clouds  and  rain — all  this  so  He 
could  not  be  too  plainly  seen. 

Heaven  was  only  a  little  way  off — a  few  miles  at  the 
most.  So  there  were  attempts  made  at  times  by  bad 
men  to  reach  it.  The  Greeks  had  a  story  about  the 
Aloidae  who  piled  mountain  upon  mountain ;  the  Bi- 
ble story  of  the  Tower  of  Babel  is  the  same,  where  the 
masons  called,  "More  mort,"  and  those  below  sent 
up  bricks.  There  is  also  an  ancient  Mexican  legend  of 
giants  who  built  the  Pyramid  of  Cholula,  and  they 
•would  have  been  successful  in  their  attempts  if  fire 
had  not  been  thrown  down  upon  them  from  heaven. 
In  all  "  Holy  Writ"  we  find  accounts  of"  ascensions," 
"translations,"  "annunciations,"  and  mortals  caught 
6 


up  into  clouds.  Many  people  had  actually  seen  angels      LITTLE 
ascending  and  descending.  JOURNEYS 

"  Messengers  from  on  high"  and  God's  secretaries 
were  constantly  coming  down  on  delicate  errands. 
Everything  that  man  did  was  noted  and  written  down. 
We  were  watched  all  the  time  by  unseen  beings.  The 
Bible  tells  of  how  the  earth  was  eventually  to  be  des- 
troyed, and  then  there  would  only  be  heaven  and  hell. 
God,  His  Son  and  the  angels  were  going  to  come  down, 
and  for  ages  men  watched  the  heavens  to  see  them 
appear.  All  sensitive  children,  born  of  orthodox  Chris- 
tian parents,  who  heard  the  Bible  read  aloud,  looked 
fearfully  into  the  sky  for  "signs  and  wonders."  The 
Bible  tells  in  several  places  of  devils  breaking  out  of 
hell  and  roaming  over  the  earth.  Dante  fully  believed 
in  this  three-story-house  idea,  and  pictures  with  awful 
exactness  the  details,  which  he  gained  from  the  preach- 
ing of  the  priests.  Dante  was  never  honored  by  having 
his  books  placed  on  the  "  Index."  On  the  contrary  he 
got  his  vogue  largely  through  the  recommendation  of 
the  priests.  To  them  he  was  a  true  scientist  for  he  cor- 
roborated their  statements. 

The  Christian  Fathers  ridiculed  the  idea  of  the  earth 
being  round,  because,  if  this  were  so,  how  could  the 
people  on  the  other  side  see  the  Son  of  Man  when 
He  came  in  the  sky  ?  Besides  that,  if  the  earth  were 
round  and  turned  on  its  axis,  we  should  all  fall  off  into 
space  jft,  jt, 

The  idea  that  there  was  an  ocean  above  the  earth, 
in  the  heavens,  was  brought  forward  to  show  the 

7 


LITTLE  goodness  and  wisdom  of  God.  Without  this  there 
JOURNEYS  -would  be  no  rain  and  hence  no  vegetation,  and  man 
would  soon  perish.  In  Genesis  we  read  that  God  said, 
"Let  there  be  a  firmament  in  the  midst  of  the  waters,and 
let  it  divide  the  waters  from  the  waters.' '  And  in  Psalms, 
"  Praise  Him,  ye  heavens  of  heavens  and  ye  waters  that 
be  above  the  heavens."  Then  we  hear,  "  The  windows 
of  heaven  were  opened."  So  this  thought  of  the  waters 
above  the  earth  was  fully  proved,  accepted  and  fixed, 
and  to  pray  for  rain  was  quite  a  natural  thing.  The 
English  Prayer  Book  contained  such  prayers  up  to 
within  a  very  few  years  ago,  and  in  1883  the  Governor 
of  Kansas  set  apart  a  day  upon  which  the  people  were 
to  pray  that  God  would  open  the  windows  of  heaven 
and  send  them  rain.  They  also  prayed  to  be  delivered 
from  grasshoppers.  Just  as  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time 
the  Prayer  Book  had  this,  "  From  the  Turk  and  the 
Comet,  good  Lord  deliver  us." 

In  the  Sixth  Century,  Cosmos,  one  of  the  Saints,  wrote 
a  full  and  complete  explanation  of  the  phenomena  of 
the  heavens.  To  account  for  the  movement  of  the  sun, 
he  said  God  had  His  angels  push  it  across  the  firma- 
ment and  put  it  behind  a  mountain  each  night,  and  the 
next  morning  it  was  brought  out  on  the  other  side.  He 
met  every  objection  by  citations  from  Genesis,  Job, 
Ezekiel,  Ecclesiastes  and  the  New  Testament,  and 
wound  up  with  an  anathema  upon  any  or  all  who  doubted 
or  questioned  in  this  matter  of  astronomy. 
The  whole  Christian  idea  of  the  Universe  was  simple, 
plain  and  plausible.  The  child-mind  could  easily  accept 
8 


it,  and  when  backed  up  by  the  Holy  Book,  written  by 
God's  dictation,  word  for  word,  infallible  and  absolutely 
true  in  every  part,  one  does  not  wonder  that  progress 
was  practically  blocked  for  fourteen  hundred  years, 
but  the  real  miracle  is  that  it  was  not  blocked  forever. 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


'HOUSANDS  of  years  before  Christ,  the 
Chinese  had  mapped  the  heavens  and 
knew  the  movements  of  the  planets  so 
well  that  they  correctly  prophesied  the 
positions  of  the  constellations  years  in  ad- 
vance. Twenty-five  hundred  years  before 
our  Christian  era  a  Chinese  Governor  put  to  death  the 
astronomers  Hi  and  Ho  because  they  had  failed  to  fore- 
tell an  eclipse,  quite  according  to  the  excellent  Celestial 
plan  of  killing  the  doctor  when  his  patient  dies.  Sir  Wil- 
liam Hamilton  points  out  the  fact  that  the  Chinese,  five 
thousand  years  ago,  knew  astronomy  nearly  as  well  as 
we  do  today,  and  that  Christian  astrology  grew  out  of 
Chinese  astronomy,  in  an  effort  to  foretell  the  fortunes 
of  men.  Fear  wants  to  know  the  future,  and  astrology 
and  priesthood  are  synonymous  terms,  since  the  busi- 
ness of  the  priest  has  always  been  to  prophesy  what 
was  going  to  happen,  a  profession  he  has  not  even  yet 
discarded. 

Their  prophecies  are  at  present  innocuous  and  lightly 
heeded.  They  preach  that  perfect  faith  will  move 
a  mountain,  but  energetic  railroad  builders  of  today 
find  it  quicker  and  cheaper  to  tunnel. 

9 


LITTLE     ft^^&f^S  CERTAIN  type  of  man  accepts  a  certain 
JOURNEYS     SSlsP  theory. 

The  Christian  view  of  creation  was  prac- 
tically the  conception  of  the  Greeks  before 
Thales.  This  wise  man  in  the  Sixth  Cen- 
tury before  Christ,  taught  that  the  earth 
was  round,  and  that  certain  stars  were  also  worlds. 
He  showed  that  the  earth  was  round  and  proved  it  by 
the  disappearance  of  the  ship  as  it  sailed  away.  He 
located  the  earth,  moon  and  sun  so  perfectly  that  he 
prophesied  an    eclipse,  and  when  it  took  place  it  so 
terrified  the  Medes  and  Lydians,  who  were  in  battle 
against  each  other,  that  they  threw  down  their  arms 
and  made  peace.  Thales  explained  that  Atlas  carried 
the  world  on  his  shoulder,  but  he  did  n't  explain  what 
Atlas  stood  upon. 

Pythagoras,  one  of  the  pupils  of  Thales,  following 
the  idea  still  further,  showed  that  the  moon  derived 
its  light  from  the  sun,  that  the  earth  was  a  globe  and 
turned  daily  on  its  axis. He  held  that  the  sun  was  the  cen- 
ter of  the  universe  and  that  the  planets  revolved  around 
it.  Anaxagoras  followed  a  few  years  after  Pythagoras, 
and  became  convinced  that  the  sun  was  merely  a  ball 
of  fire  and  therefore  should  not  be  worshiped ;  that  it 
follows  a  natural  law,  that  nothing  happens  by  chance 
and  that  to  pray  for  rain  is  absurd. 
For  his  sterling  honesty  in  expressing  what  he  thought 
was  truth,  the  priests  of  Athens  had  Anaxagoras  and 
his  family  exiled  to  perpetual  banishment  from  Athens 
and  all  of  his  books  were  burned. 
10 


Plato  touched  on  astronomy,  for  he  touches  on  every-      LITTLE 
thing,  and  fully  believed  that  the  earth   was   round.     JOURNEYS 
His  pupil,  Aristotle,  taught  all  that  Anaxagoras  taught, 
and  if  he  had  not  also  been  exiled,  but  had  been  free  to 
study,  investigate  and  express  himself,  he  would  have 
come  very  close  to  the  truth.  Hipparchus,  a  hundred 
years  after  Aristotle,  calculated  the  length  of  the  year 
to  within  six  minutes,  discovered  the  precession  of  the 
equinoxes    and   counted  all    the  stars   he   could    see, 
making  a  map  of  them. 

Seventy  years  after  Christ,  Ptolemy,  a  Graeco-Egyp- 
tian,  but  not  of  the  royal  line  of  Ptolemys,  published 
his  great  book,  "  The  Almagest."  For  fourteen  cen- 
turies it  was  the  text-book  for  the  best  astronomers. 
It  taught  that  the  earth  was  the  center  of  the  universe, 
and  that  the  sun  and  the  planets  revolve  around  it. 
There  were  many  absurdities,  however,  that  had  to  be 
explained,  and  the  priests  practically  rejected  the 
whole  book  as  "pagan"  and  taught  an  astronomy  of 
their  own,  founded  on  the  Bible.  What  they  wanted 
was  an  explanation  that  would  be  accepted  by  the 
common  people.  This  astronomy  was  not  designed  to 
be  scientific,  exact,  or  truthful — all  they  asked  was, 
"  Is  it  plausible?"  Expediency,  to  theology,  has  al- 
ways been  much  more  important  than  truth. 
"  Besides,"  said  St.  Basil,  "what  boots  it  concerning 
all  this  conjecture  about  the  stars,  since  the  earth  is 
soon  to  come  to  an  end,  as  shown  by  our  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, and  man's  business  is  to  prepare  his  soul  for 
eternity  ? ' ' 

11 


/ 


LITTLE  This  was  the  general  attitude  of  the  Church— exact 
JOURNEYS  truth  was  a  matter  of  indifference.  And  if  science 
tended  to  unseat  men's  faith  in  the  Bible,  and  in  God's 
holy  religion,  then  so  much  worse  for  the  science. 
It  will  thus  plainly  be  seen  why  the  Church  felt 
compelled  to  fight  science — the  very  life  of  the  Church 
was  at  stake.  The  Church  was  the  vital  thing — not 
truth.  If  truth  could  be  taught  without  unseating 
faith,  why,  all  right,  but  anything  that  made  men  doubt 
must  be  rooted  out  at  any  cost.  And  that  is  why  priests 
have  opposed  Science,  not  that  they  hate  Science  less, 
but  that  they  love  the  Church  more. 
From  the  time  of  Ptolemy  to  that  of  Copernicus — 
fourteen  hundred  years — theology  practically  dictated 
the  learning  of  the  world.  And  to  Copernicus  must  be 
given  the  credit  of  having  awakened  the  science  of 
astronomy  from  her  long  sleep. 


'HE  little  land  that  we  know  as  Poland  has 
produced  some  of  the  finest  and  most 
acute  intellects  the  world  has  ever  known. 
Tragic  and  blood-stained  is  her  history, 
and  this  tragedy,  perhaps,  has  been  a 
prime  factor  in  the  evolution  of  her  men 
of  worth.  Poland  has  been  stamped  upon  and  pushed 
apart ;  and  a  persecuted  people  always  produce  a  pride 
of  race  that  has  its  outcrop  in  occasional  genius. 
Recently  we  have  heard  of  Paderewski  playing  be- 
fore the  Czar,  and  His  Majesty,  in  a  speech  meant  to 
12 


be  complimentary,  congratulated  the  company  that  so      LITTLE 
great  a  genius  was  a  citizen  of  Russia.  JOURNEYS 

"  Your  Majesty,  I  am  not  a  Russian — I  am  a  Pole!" 
was  the  proud  reply. 

The  Czar  answered,  with  a  smile,  "There  is  no  such 
country  as  Poland — now  there  is  only  Russia!" 
And  Paderewski  replied,  "  Pardon  my  hasty  remark — 
you  speak  but  truth."  And  then  he  played  Chopin's 
Funeral  March,  a  dirge  not  only  to  the  great  men  of 
Poland  gone,  but  to  Poland  herself. 
Nicholas  Copernicus  was  born  of  Polish  parents  in  the 
quaint  old  town  of  Thorn,  February  19,  1473.  The  fam- 
ily name  was  Koppernig,  but  Nicholas  Latinized  it 
when  he  became  of  age,  and  seemingly  separated  from 
his  immediate  kinsmen  forever. 

His  father  was  a  merchant,  fairly  prosperous,  and 
ambitious  only  in  the  line  of  money-making.  In  the 
Koppernigs  ran  a  goodly  strain  of  Jewish  blood,  but  a 
generation  before,  pressure  and  expediency  seemed  to 
combine,  so  that  the  family,  as  we  first  find  them, 
were  Christians.  No  soil  can  grow  genius,  no  seed  can 
produce  it — it  springs  into  being  in  spite  of  all  laws 
and  rules  and  regulations.  "  No  hovel  is  safe  from  it," 
says  Whistler. 

The  portraits  of  Copernicus  reveal  a  man  of  most 
marked  personality — proud,  handsome,  self-contained, 
intellectual.  The  head  is  massive,  eyes  full,  luminous, 
wide  apart,  nose  large  and  bold,  chin  strong,  the 
mouth  alone  revealing  a  trace  of  the  feminine — as 
though  the  man  were  the  child  of  his  mother.  This 

13 


LITTLE     mother  had  a  brother  who  was  a   bishop,   and   the 

JOURNEYS     mother's   ambition   for  her  boy  was  that  he  should 

eventually  walk  in   the   footsteps   of  this   illustrious 

brother  who   was   known  for  a  hundred  miles  as  a 

preacher  of  marked  ability. 

So  we  hear  of  the  young  man  being  sent  to  the  Uni- 
versity of  Cracow,  as  preliminary  to  a  great  career. 
The  father  opposed  the  idea  of  taking  the  son  out  of 
the  practical  world  of  business,  and  this  evidently  led 
to  the  breach  that  caused  young  Nicholas  to  discard 
the  family  name. 

That  Nicholas  did  not  fully  enter  into  his  mother's 
plans  is  shown  that  while  at  Cracow  he  devoted  him- 
self mostly  to  medicine.  He  was  so  proficient  in  this 
that  he  secured  a  physician's  degree;  and  having 
been  given  leave  to  practice  he  revealed  his  humanity 
by  declining  to  do  so,  turning  to  mathematics  with  a 
fine  frenzy. 

This  disposition  to  drop  on  a  thing — turn  loose  on  it — 
concentrate,  and  reduce  it  to  chaos,  is  the  true  dis- 
tinguishing mark  of  genius.  The  difference  in  men  does 
not  lie  in  the  size  of  their  heads,  nor  the  perfection  of 
their  bodies,  but  in  this  one  sublime  ability  of  con- 
centration— to  throw  the  weight  with  the  blow,  live  an 
eternity  in  an  hour — "This  one  thing  I  do !  " 
Copernicus  at  twenty-one  was  teaching  mathematics 
at  Cracow,  and  by  his  extraordinary  ability  in  this  di- 
rection had  attracted  the  attention  of  various  learned 
men.  In  fact  the  authorities  at  the  college  had  grown 
a  bit  boastful  of  their  star  student,  and  when  visiting 
14 


dignitaries  arrived,  young  Copernicus  was  given  chalk      LITTLE 
and  blackboard  and  put  through  his  paces.  Problems     JOURNEYS 
involving   a   dozen  figures  and   many  fractions  were 
worked  out   by  him  with  a  directness  and  precision 
that  made  him  the  wonder  of  that  particular  part  of 
the  world. 

Copernicus  invented  the  science  of  trigonometry,  and 
we  see  that  early  in  his  twenties  he  was  well  on  the 
heels  of  it,  for  he  had  arranged  a  quadrant  to  measure 
the  height  of  standing  trees,  steeples,  buildings  or 
mountains.  For  rest  and  recreation  he  painted  pictures. 
<J  A  college  professor  from  Bologna  traveling  through 
Cracow,  met  Copernicus,  and  greatly  impressed  with 
his  powers,  invited  him  to  return  with  him  to  Bologna 
and  there  give  a  course  of  lectures  on  mathematics. 
Q  Copernicus  accepted,  and  at  Bologna  met  the 
astronomer,  Novarra.  Copernicus  was  then  twenty- 
three  years  of  age,  but  in  intellect  he  was  a  man.  He 
had  vowed  a  year  before  that  he  would  indulge  in  no 
trivial  conversation  about  either  persons  or  things, 
only  great  and  noble  themes  should  interest  him  or 
occupy  his  attention.  With  ignorant  or  commonplace 
people  he  held  no  converse.  He  had  remarkable  beauty 
of  person  and  great  dignity,  and  his  presence  at  Bo- 
logna won  for  him  immediate  respect. 
Men  accept  other  men  at  the  estimate  they  place  upon 
themselves. 

In  listening  to  lectures  by  Novarra,  he  perceived  at 
once  how  mathematics  could  be  made  valuable  in  cal- 
culating the  movements  of  the  stars. 

15 


LITTLE  Novarra  taught  the  Ptolemaic  theory  of  astronomy 
JOURNEYS  for  the  esoteric  few.  The  Church  is  made  up  of  men, 
and  while  priests  for  the  most  part  are  quite  content 
to  believe  what  the  Church  teaches,  yet  it  has  ever 
been  recognized  that  there  was  one  doctrine  for  the 
Few,  and  another  for  the  Many — the  esoteric  and  the 
exoteric.  The  esoteric  is  an  edged  tool,  and  only  a  very 
few  are  fit  to  handle  it.  The  charge  of  heresy  is  only 
for  those  who  are  so  foolish  as  to  give  out  these  edged 
tools  to  the  people.  You  may  talk  about  anything  you 
want,  provided  you  do  not  do  it,  and  you  may  do  any- 
thing you  want,  provided  you  do  not  talk  about  it. 
The  proposition  that  the  earth  was  flat,  had  four  cor- 
ners, and  the  stars  were  jewels  hung  in  the  sky  as 
"  signs,"  and  were  moved  about  by  angels,  was  all 
right  for  the  many,  but  now  and  then  there  were  priests 
who  were  not  content  with  these  child-stories — they 
wanted  truth — and  these  usually  accepted  the  theories 
of  Ptolemy. 

Novarra  believed  that  the  earth  -was  a  globe ;  that  this 
globe  was  the  center  of  the  universe,  and  that  around 
the  earth  the  sun,  moon  and  certain  stars  revolved. 
The  "fixed"  stars  he  still  regarded  as  being  hung 
against  the  firmament,  and  that  this  firmament  was 
turned  in  some  mysterious  way,  en  masse. 
Copernicus  listened  silently,  but  his  heart  beat  fast. 
He  had  found  something  upon  which  he  could  exer- 
cise his  mathematics.  He  and  Novarra  sat  up  all  night 
in  the  belfry  of  the  cathedral  and  watched  the  stars. 
They  saw  that  they  moved  steadily,  surely  and  with- 
16 


out  caprice.  It  was  all  natural,  and  could  be  reduced,      LITTLE 
Copernicus  thought,  to  a  mathematical  system.  JOURNEYS 

Astronomy  and  astrology  were  not  then  divorced. 
It  was  astrology  that  gave  us  astronomy.  The  angel 
that  watched  over  a  star  looked  after  all  persons  who 
were  born  under  that  star's  influence,  or  else  ap- 
pointed some  other  angel  for  the  purpose.  Every  per- 
son had  a  guardian  angel  to  protect  him  from  the  evil 
spirits  that  occasionally  broke  out  of  hell  and  came  up 
to  earth  to  tempt  men. 

Mathematics  knows  nothing  of  angels — it  only  knows 
what  it  can  prove.  Copernicus  believed  that  if  certain 
stars  moved,  they  moved  by  some  unalterable  law  of 
their  own.  In  riding  on  a  boat  he  observed  that  the 
shores  seemed  to  be  moving  past,  and  he  concluded 
that  a  part,  at  least,  of  the  seeming  movements  of  the 
planets  might  possibly  be  caused  by  the  moving  of  the 
earth  jfi  ^ 

In  talking  with  astrologers  he  perceived  that  very 
seldom  did  they  know  anything  of  mathematics.  And 
this  ignorance  on  their  part  caused  him  to  doubt 
them  entirely.  His  faith  was  in  mathematics — the 
thing  that  could  be  proved,  and  he  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  astronomy  and  mathematics  were  one 
thing,  and  astrology  and  child-stories  another. 
He  remained  at  Bologna  long  enough  to  turn  the 
astrologers  out  of  the  society  of  astronomers. 
Novarra's  lectures  on  astronomy  were  given  in  Latin, 
and  in  truth  all  learning  was  locked  up  in  this  tongue. 
But  astrology  and  the  theological  fairy  tales  of  the 

17 


LITTLE     people  floated  free.  They  were  a  part  of  the  vagrant 
JOURNEYS     hagiology  of  the  roadside  preachers,  who  with  lurid 
imaginations    said    the    things   they    thought    would 
help  carry  conviction  home  and  make  "believers." 
From  Bologna  Copernicus  moved  on  to  Padua,  where 
^  he  remained  two  years,  teaching  and  giving  lectures. 

Here  he  devoted  considerable  time  to  chemistry,  and 
on  leaving  he  was  honored  by  being  given  a  degree  by 
the  University.  Next  we  find  him  at  Rome  filling  a 
professor's  chair  of  mathematics  and  also  giving  lec- 
tures on  chemistry.  His  lectures  were  not  for  the  pop- 
ulace— they  -were  for  the  learned  few.  But  they  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  the  best,  and  were  commented 
upon  and  quoted  by  various  other  teachers,  preachers 
and  lecturers.  A  daring  thinker  who  expresses  himself 
without  reservation,  states  the  things  that  various 
others  know  and  would  like  to  state  if  they  dared.  It  is 
often  very  convenient  when  you  want  a  thing  said  to 
enclose  the  matter  in  quotation  marks.  It  relieves  one 
from  the  responsibility  of  standing  sponsor  for  it,  if 
the  hypothesis  does  not  prove  popular. 
Copernicus  was  nineteen  years  old  when  Columbus 
discovered  America,  but  it  seems  he  did  not  hear  of 
Columbus  until  he  reached  Bologna  in  1495.  At  Rome 
he  made  various  references  to  Columbus  in  his  lec- 
tures, dwelt  upon  the  truth  that  the  earth  was  a  globe ; 
mentioned  the  obvious  fact  that  in  sailing  westward 
Columbus  did  not  sail  his  ship  over  the  edge  of  the 
earth  into  hell,  as  had  been  prophesied  he  would.  He 
also  explained  that  the  red  sky  at  sunset  was  not 
18 


caused  by  the  reflections  from  hell,  nor  was  the  sun      LITTLE 
moved  behind  a  mountain  by  giant  angels  at  night.  JOURNEYS 

Copernicus  was  a  Catholic,  as  all  teachers  were,  but 
he  had  been  deceived  by  the  esoteric  and  the  exoteric, 
and  had  really  thought  that  the  priests  and  so-called 
educated  men  actually  desired,  for  themselves,  to 
know  the  truth. 

At  Padua  he  had  learned  to  read  Greek,  and  had  be- 
come more  or  less  familiar  with  Pythagoras,  Hip- 
parchus,  Plato  and  Aristotle.  He  quoted  these  authors 
and  showed  how  in  some  ways  they  were  beyond  the 
present.  This  was  all  done  in  the  exuberance  of  youth, 
with  never  a  doubt  as  to  the  value  and  the  beauty  of  the 
Church.  But  he  was  thinking  more  of  truth  than  of  the 
Church,  and  when  a  cardinal  from  the  Vatican  came 
to  him,  and  in  all  kindness  cautioned  him,  and  in  love 
explained  it  was  all  right  for  a  man  to  believe  what  he 
wished,  but  to  teach  others  the  things  that  were  not 
authorized,  was  a  mistake. 

Copernicus  was  abashed,  depressed.  He  saw  then  that 
his  lectures  had  really  been  for  himself — he  was  en- 
deavoring to  make  things  plain  to  Copernicus,  and  the 
welfare  of  the  Church  had  been  forgotten. 
He  ceased  lecturing  for  a  time,  but  private  pupils  came 
to  him  and  among  them  were  astrologers  in  disguise, 
and  these  went  away  and  told  broadcast  that  Coper- 
nicus was  teaching  that  the  movements  of  the  stars 
were  not  caused  by  angels,  and  that  "  God  was  being 
dethroned  by  a  tape  measure  and  a  yardstick." 
Alchemy  had  a  strong  hold  upon  the  popular  mind, 

19 


LITTLE  and  these  alchemists  and  astrologers  were  fortune- 
JOURNEYS  tellers  and  derived  a  goodly  income  from  the  people. 
They  had  their  stands  in  front  of  all  the  churches  and 
turned  in  a  goodly  tithe  "for  the  benefit  of  the  poor." 
CJ  When  the  astrologers  attacked  Copernicus  he  tried  to 
explain  that  the  heavens  were  under  the  reign  of  nat- 
ural law,  and  that  so  far  as  he  knew  there  was  no  di- 
rect relationship  between  the  stars  and  the  men  upon 
earth.  The  answer  was,  "You  yourself  foretell  the 
eclipse  and  you  assume  to  know  when  a  star  -will  be 
in  a  certain  place  a  hundred  years  in  advance,  now  if 
you  can  prophesy  about  stars  why  can't  we  foretell  a 
man's  future  ?" 

Copernicus  proudly  declined  to  answer  such  ignorance, 
but  went  on  to  say  alchemy  was  a  violence  to  chem- 
istry as  much  as  astrology  was  to  astronomy.  In 
chemistry  there  were  exact  results  that  could  be  com- 
puted by  mathematics  and  foretold — it  was  likewise  so 
in  astronomy.  Copernicus  was  philosopher  enough  to 
perceive  that  astrology  led  to  astronomy,  and  al- 
chemy led  to  chemistry,  but  he  said  all  he  wished  to 
do  was  to  eliminate  error  and  find  the  truth,  and  when 
we  have  ascertained  the  laws  of  God  in  reference  to 
these  things  we  should  discard  the  use  of  black  cats, 
goggles,  peaked  hats,  red  fire  and  incantations — these 
things  were  sacrilege.  And  the  enemy  declared  that 
Copernicus  was  guilty  of  heresy  in  saying  they  were 
guilty  of  sacrilege.  Moreover,  black  cats  were  not  as 
bad  as  blackboards. 

The  Pope  certainly  had  no  idea  of  treating  Copernicus 
20 


harshly — in  fact,  he  greatly  admired  him,  but   peace      LITTLE 
was   the   thing   desired.   Copernicus   -was    creating  a     JOURNEYS 
schism,  and  there  was  danger  that  the  re  venues  would 
be  affected.  The  Pope  sent  for  Copernicus,   received 
him  with  honors,  blessed  him,  and  suggested  that  he 
return  at  once  to  his  native  town  of  Thorn  and  there 
await  good  news  that  would  come  to  him  soon. 
The  young  man  was  overwhelmed  with  gratitude — he 
was  in  difficulties.  Certain  priests   had   publicly  de- 
nounced him ;  others  had  urged  him  on  to  unseemli- 
ness in  debate;    he  had  stated  things   he   could    not 
prove,  even  though  he  knew  they  were  true — but  the 
Pope  was  his  friend ! 

He  loved  the  Church — he  felt  how  necessary  it  was 
to  the  people,  and  at  the  last,  the  desire  of  his  heart  was 
to  bless  and  benefit  the  world.  He  fell  on  his  knees  and 
attempted  to  kiss  the  Pope's  foot,  but  instead  the  Holy 
Father  offered  him  his  hand,  smiled  on  him,  stroked 
his  head,  and  an  attendant  was  ordered  to  place  about 
his  neck  a  chain  of  gold  with  a  crucifix  that  would  pro- 
tect him  from  all  harm.  A  purse  was  placed  in  his 
hand,  and  he  was  sent  upon  his  way  relieved,  happy 
— wondering,  wondering ! 


21 


LITTLE     fp^g^pt^HEN  Copernicus  reached  his  native  town 

JOURNEYS     SfhfJJfo^ls  of  Thorn  the  local  clergy  turned  out  to 

greet  him  in  a  procession,  and  a  solemn 
service  of  thanksgiving  was  held  for  his 
safe  return. 

Copernicus  was  only  twenty-seven  years 
of  age,  and  what  he  had  done  was  not  quite  clear  to  his 
uncle,  the  bishop,  and  the  other  dignitaries,  but  word 
had  come  from  the  secretary  of  the  Pope  that  he  should 
be  honored,  and  it  was  all  so  done,  in  faith,  love  and  en- 
thusiasm &  Jt, 

Very  shortly  after  this,  Copernicus  was  made  Canon 
of  the  Cathedral  at  Frauenburg.  The  town  of  Frauen- 
burg  has  now  only  about  twenty-five  hundred  people, 
and  it  certainly  was  no  larger  then.  The  place  is  slow, 
sleepy,  and  quite  off  the  beaten  track  of  travel.  When 
Canon  Copernicus  preached  now  it  was  to  a  dear, 
stupid  lot  of  old  market-women,  and  overworked  men 
and  mischievous  children.  Oratory  is  a  collaboration — 
let  him  wax  eloquent  about  the  precession  of  the 
equinoxes,  and  prate  of  Plato  and  Pythagoras  if  he 
wished — no  one  could  understand  him  ! 
Rome  is  wise — the  crystallized  experience  of  centuries 
is  hers.  Responsibility  tames  a  man — marriage,  politi- 
cal office,  churchly  preferment — read  history  and  note 
how  these  things  have  dulled  the  bright  blade  of  revo- 
lution and  turned  the  radical  into  a  Presbyterian  pro- 
fessor at  Princeton,  a  staunch  upholder  of  the  Estab- 
lished Order ! 

Plato  said  that  Solar  Energy  found  one  of  its  forms  of 
22 


expression  in  man.  Some  men  are  much  more  highly      LITTLE 
charged  with  it  than  others  ;  your  genius  is  a  man  who     JOURNEYS 
does  things.  Do  not  think  to  dam  up  the   red  current 
of  his  life — he  may  die. 

Copernicus  set  to  work  practicing  medicine,  and  gave 
his  services  gratis  to  the  poor,  who  came  from  many 
miles  to  consult  him.  He  went  from  house  to  house 
and  ordered  his  people  to  clean  up  their  back  yards, 
to  ventilate  their  houses — to  bathe  and  be  decent  and 
orderly.  He  devised  a  system  of  sewerage,  and  utilized 
the  belfry  of  his  church  as  a  water-tower,  to  get  a 
water  pressure  from  the  little  stream  that  ran  near  the 
town.  The  remains  of  this  invention  are  to  be  seen 
there  in  the  church  steeple  even  unto  this  day. 
King  Sigismund  of  Poland  had  heard  of  the  attacks 
made  by  Copernicus  upon  the  alchemists,  and  sent  for 
him  that  he  might  profit  by  his  advice,  for  it  seems 
that  the  King,  too,  had  been  having  experience  with 
alchemists.  In  their  seeking  after  a  way  to  make  gold 
out  of  the  baser  metals  they  had  actually  succeeded — 
yes !  At  least  they  said  so,  and  had  made  the  King  be- 
lieve it. 

They  had  shown  the  King  how  he  could  cheapen  his 
coinage  one-half,  and  "it  was  just  as  good!"  The  King 
could  not  tell  the  difference  when  the  coins  were  new, 
but  alas !  when  they  went  beyond  the  borders  of  Po- 
land they  could  only  be  passed  at  half  their  face  value ; 
travelers  refused  to  accept  them ;  and  even  the  mer- 
chants at  home  were  getting  afraid. 
Copernicus  analyzed  some  of  this  money  made  for  the 

23 


LITTLE  King  by  his  alchemist  friends  and  found  a  large  alloy 
JOURNEYS  of  tin,  copper  and  zinc.  He  explained  to  the  King  that 
by  mixing  the  metals  they  did  not  change  their  nature 
nor  value.  Gold  was  gold,  and  copper  was  copper — God 
had  made  these  things  and  hid  them  in  the  earth  and 
men  might  deceive  some  men — a  part  of  the  time — 
but  there  was  always  a  retribution.  Debase  your  cur- 
rency, and  soon  it  "will  cease  to  pass  current. 
No  law  can  long  uphold  a  factitious  value. 
The  King  urged  Copernicus  to  write  a  book  on  the  sub- 
ject of  coinage.  The  permission  of  the  Pope  was  se- 
cured, and  the  book  written.  The  work  is  valuable  yet, 
and  reveals  a  deep  insight  into  the  heart  of  things.  The 
man  knew  political  economy,  and  foretold  that  a  peo- 
ple who  debased  their  currency  debased  themselves. 
"Money  is  character,"  he  said, "and  if  you  pretend  it 
is  one  thing,  and  it  turns  out  to  be  another,  you  lose 
your  reputation  and  your  own  self-respect.  No  govern- 
ment can  afford  to  deceive  the  governed.  If  the  people 
lose  confidence  in  their  rulers,  a  new  government  will 
spring  into  being,  built  upon  the  ruins  of  the  old.  Gov- 
ernment and  commerce  are  built  on  confidence." 
Then  he  went  on  to  show  that  German  gold  was  val- 
uable everywhere,  because  it  was  pure,  but  Polish  gold 
and  Russian  gold  were  below  par  because  the  money 
had  been  tampered  with,  and  as  no  secrets  could  be  kept 
long,  the  result  was,  the  matter  exactly  equalized  it- 
self, save  that  Russians  and  Polanders  had  in  a  degree 
lost  their  characters  through  belief  in  miracles. 
Copernicus  advocated  a  universal  coinage,  to  be 
24 


adopted  by  all  civilized  nations,  and  the  amount  of  al- 
loy should  be  known  and  plainly  stated,  and  this  alloy 
should  simply  be  the  seigniorage,  or  what  was  taken 
out  to  cover  the  cost  of  mintage. 

King  Sigismund  circulated  this  book  by  Copernicus 
among  all  the  courts  of  Europe,  and  it  need  not  be 
stated  that  the  suggestions  made  by  Copernicus  have 
been  adopted  by  all  civilized  nations. 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


'HE  humdrum  duties  of  a  country  clergy- 
man did  not  still  the  longing  of  Coperni- 
cus to  know  and  understand  the  truth. 
He  visited  the  sick,  closed  the  eyes  of  the 
dying,  kept  his  parish  register,  but  his 
heart  was  in  mathematics,  and  so  there  is 
shown  at  Thorn  an  old  church  register  kept  by  Co- 
pernicus, where,  in  the  back,  are  great  rows  of  figures 
put  down  by  the  Master  as  he  worked  at  some  astro- 
nomical problem.  In  the  upper  floor  of  the  barn,  back  of 
the  old  dilapidated  farmhouse  where  he  lived  for  forty 
years,  he  cut  holes  in  the  roof,  and  also  apertures  in 
the  sides  of  the  building  through  which  he  watched  the 
movements  of  the  stars.  He  lived  in  practical  isolation 
and  exile,  for  the  Church  had  forbidden  him  to  speak 
in  public  excepting  upon  themes  that  the  Holy  Fathers 
in  their  wisdom  had  authorized.  None  were  to  invite 
him  to  speak,  read  his  writings  or  hold  converse  with 
him,  excepting  on  strictly  church  matters. 
Copernicus  knew  the  situation — he  was  a  watched 

25 


LITTLE  man.  For  him  there  was  no  preferment — he  knew  too 
JOURNEYS  much!  As  long  as  he  kept  near  home  and  did  his 
priestly  work  all  was  -well,  but  a  trace  of  ambition  or 
heresy,  and  he  would  be  dealt  with.  The  Universities 
and  all  prominent  churchmen  were  secretly  ordered 
to  leave  Copernicus  and  his  vagaries  severely  alone. 
C[  But  the  stars  were  his  companions — they  came  out 
for  him  nightly  and  moved  in  majesty  across  the  sky. 
"They  do  me  great  honor,"  he  said.  "  I  am  forbidden 
to  converse  with  great  men,  but  God  has  ordered  for 
me  a  procession."  When  the  whole  town  slept  Co- 
pernicus watched  the  heavens,  and  made  minute  rec- 
ords of  his  observations.  He  had  brought  with  him  from 
Rome  copies  made  by  himself  from  the  works  of  the 
prominent  Greek  astronomers, and  the  "Almagest"  of 
Ptolemy  he  knew  by  heart. 

He  digested  all  that  had  been  written  on  the  subject 
of  astronomy ;  slowly  and  patiently  he  tested  every 
hypothesis  with  his  rude  and  improvised  instruments. 
"  Surely  God  will  not  damn  me  for  wanting  to  know 
the  truth  about  His  glorious  works,"  he  used  to  say. 
C[  Emerson  once  wrote  this,  "  If  the  stars  came  out  but 
once  in  a  thousand  years,  how  men  -would  adore!" 
But  before  he  had  written  this,  Copernicus  had  said, 
"  To  look  up  at  the  sky,  and  behold  the  wondrous 
works  of  God,  must  make  a  man  bow  his  head  and 
heart  in  silence.  I  have  thought,  and  studied,  and 
worked  for  years,  and  I  know  so  little — all  I  can  do  is 
to  adore  when  I  behold  this  unfailing  regularity,  this 
miraculous  balance  and  perfect  adaptation.  The  majesty 
26 


of  it  all  humbles  me  into  the  dust."  Q  It  was  ostracism  LITTLE 
and  exile  that  gave  Copernicus  the  leisure  to  pur-  JOURNEYS 
sue  his  studies  in  quiet — undiverted,  undisturbed.  He 
was  relieved  from  financial  pinch,  having  all  he 
needed  for  his  simple,  homely  wants.  The  mental 
distance  that  separated  him  from  his  parishioners 
made  him  free,  and  the  order  that  he  should  not 
travel  and  that  none  should  visit  him  made  him  mas- 
ter of  his  time.  There  were  no  interruptions — "  God 
has  set  me  apart,"  he  wrote,  "that  I  may  study  and 
make  plain  His  works."  But  still  that  he  could  not 
make  his  discoveries  known  was  a  constant,  bitter  dis- 
appointment to  him. 

Astronomy  afforded  him  a  means  of  using  his  mighty 
mathematical  genius  for  his  own  pleasure  and  amuse- 
ment. In  seeking  to  subdue  him,  the  Pope  had  merely 
supplied  the  exact  conditions  he  required  to  do  his 
work — yet  neither  knew  it.  So  mighty  is  Destiny — we 
work  for  one  thing  and  fail  to  get  it,  but  in  our  efforts 
we  find  something  better. 

The  simple,  hard-working  gardeners  with  whom  Co- 
pernicus lived,  had  a  reverent  awe  for  the  great  man  ; 
they  guessed  his  worth,  but  still  had  suspicions  of  his 
sanity.  His  nightly  vigils  they  took  for  a  sort  of  relig- 
ious ecstasy,  and  a  wholesome  fear  made  them  quite 
willing  not  to  do  anything  that  might  disturb  him. 
So  passed  the  days,  and  from  a  light-hearted,  am- 
bitious man,  Copernicus  had  grown  old  and  bowed, 
and  nearly  blind  from  continuously  watching  the  stars 
and  writing  at  night. 

27 


LITTLE      But    his   book,    "The    Revolution    of    the    Heavenly 
JOURNEYS      Bodies,"  was  at  last  complete.  For  forty  years  he  had 
worked  at  it,  and  for  twenty-seven  years,  he  himself 
says,  not  a  day  or  a  night  had  passed  without  his  hav- 
ing added  something  to  it. 

He  felt  that  he  had  in  this  book  told  the  truth.  If  men 
wanted  to  know  the  facts  about  the  heavens  they  would 
find  them  here.  He  had  approached  the  subject  with 
no  preconceived  ideas ;  he  had  ever  been  willing  to  re- 
nounce a  theory  when  he  had  found  it  wrong.  He  knew 
what  all  other  great  astronomers  had  taught,  and  out 
of  them  all  he  had  built  a  Science  of  Astronomy  that 
he  knew  would  stand  secure. 

But  what  should  he  do  with  all  this  mass  of  truth  he 
had  discovered  ?  It  was  in  his  own  brain,  and  it  was  in 
the  three  thousand  pages  of  this  book,  which  had  been 
re-written  five  times.  In  a  few  years  at  most  his  brain 
would  be  stilled  in  death ;  and  in  five  minutes,  igno- 
rance and  malice  might  reduce  the  book  to  ashes,  and 
the  forty  years'  labor  of  Copernicus — working,  dream- 
ing, calculating,  weeping,  praying — would  all  go  for 
naught  and  be  but  as  a  tale  that  is  told.  Others  might 
have  lived  such  lives  and  known  as  much  as  he,  and 
all  was  lost ! 

To  frankly  send  the  book  to  Rome  and  ask  the  Censor 
for  the  privilege  to  publish  it,  was  out  of  the  question — 
the  request  would  be  refused,the  manuscript  destroyed, 
and  his  own  life  even  might  be  in  danger. 
To  publish  it  at  home  without  the  consent  of  his 
Bishop  would  be  equally  dangerous.  There  would  be  a 
28 


bonfire  of  every  copy  in  the  public  square,  for  in   this      LITTLE 
volume,  all  the  priests  taught  of  astronomy  had  been     JOURNEYS 
contradicted  and  refuted. 

And  then  it  occurred  to  him  to  send  the  manuscript  to 
the  free  city  of  Nuremberg,  the  home  of  science,  art 
and  free  speech,  where  men  could  print  what  they 
thought  was  truth — Nuremberg,  the  home  of  Albrecht 
Durer.  With  the  book  he  sent  a  bag  of  gold,  his  sav- 
ings of  a  lifetime,  to  pay  the  expense  of  printing  the 
volume  and  putting  it  before  the  world. 
To  better  protect  himself,  Copernicus  wrote  a  preface, 
dedicating  the  book  to  the  Pope  Paul,  thus  throwing 
himself  upon  the  mercy  of  His  Holiness.  He  would 
not  put  the  work  out  anonymously,  as  his  friends  in 
Nuremberg,  for  his  own  safety,  had  advised.  Neither 
would  he  flee  to  Nuremberg  for  protection  ;  he  would 
stay  at  home — he  was  too  old  to  travel  now — besides  he 
had  forgotten  how  to  talk  and  act  with  men  of  talent. 
({How  would  Rome  receive  the  book  !  He  could  only 
guess — he  could  only  guess. 

The  months  went  by,  and  fear,  anxiety,  and  suspense 
had  their  sway.  He  was  stricken  with  fever.  In  his  de- 
lirium he  called  aloud, "  The  book — tell  me — they  surely 
have  not  burned  it — you  know  I  wrote  no  word  but 
truth — oh,  how  could  they  burn  my  book  !  " 
But  on  May  23,  1543,  a  messenger  arrived  from  Nurem- 
berg. He  carried  a  copy  of  the  printed  book — he  was 
admitted  to  the  sick-room,  and  placed  in  the  hands  of 
the  stricken  man  the  volume.  A  gleam  of  sanity  came 
to  Copernicus.  He  smiled,  and  taking  the  book  gazed 

29 


LITTLE     upon  it,  stroked  its  cover  as  though  caressing  it,  opened 
JOURNEYS     it  and  turned  the  leaves.  Then  closing  the  volume  and 
holding  it  to  his  heart,  he  closed  his  eyes,  and  sank  to 
sleep,  to  awake  no  more. 

His  body  was  buried  with  simple  village  honors,  and 
laid  to  rest  beneath  the  floor  of  the  Cathedral  where 
he  had  so  long  ministered,  side  by  side  with  a  long 
line  of  priests.  On  the  little  slab  that  marked  his  rest- 
ing-place no  mention  was  made  of  the  mighty  work  he 
had  done  for  truth.  There  were  fears  that  when  the 
character  of  his  book  was  known,  the  grave  of  Coper- 
nicus would  not  remain  undisturbed,  and  so  the  inscrip- 
tion was  simply  this :  "I  ask  not  the  grace  accorded 
to  Paul ;  not  that  given  to  Peter ;  give  me  only  [the  favor 
which  Thou  didst  show  to  the  thief  on  the  cross." 


30 


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provided  with  ample  verandas;  situated  150  feet  above  tide  water,  surrounded  by  a 
pretty  grove.  A  steel  tower  storage  tank,  capacity  5,000  gallons,  is  supplied  by  a 
sixty-foot  steel  tower  and  twelve-foot  Manvel  windmill,  from  a  never-failing  spring 
of  softest  water,  and  distributes  water  to  the  dwelling  house,  stable,  &  many  other 
places  on  the  farm.  A  barn  accommodates  twelve  driving  horses.  A  carriage  house 
and  harness  room  has  eight  hundred  square  feet  of  floor  space.  An  ice-house  has 
forty  tons  capacity.  There  are  four  servants'  quarters,  a  manager's  residence,  five 
ton  scales  for  stock  and  hay;  stock-barns  and  yards,  blacksmith  shop  and  orchards. 
The  ground  is  high  and  rolling,  and  is  well  set  in  the  best  grass.  The  soil  is  adapted 
to  almost  any  kind  of  crop.  The  situation  is  beautiful  and  healthful.  The  neighbor- 
hood is  good,  with  refined  society  in  and  around  Davidsonville.  Churches  of  various 
denominations;  postoffice,  schools  and  mills  are  nearby.  Long  distance  telephone 
connection  is  in  the  house,  and  the  projected  Baltimore  &  Southern  Railroad  runs 
directly  through  the  farm.  Already  farmers,  once  contented  in  the  West,  but  look- 
ing for  a  more  genial  clime  and  pleasant  surroundings,  have  located  in  this  neigh- 
borhood. A  rare  opportunity  is  now  offered  to  one  seeking  an  ideal  country  home, 
fully  furnished  and  equipped.  There  are  one  hundred  &  fifty  head  of  stock,  horses, 
cattle,  sheep  and  hogs  on  the  place.  Will  sell  as  it  stands,  option  of  purchaser. 
For  particulars  address  \ 

JAMES  M.  MUNROE,  ANNAPOLIS,  MARYLAND 
Or  FRANK  R.  BIEDLER,  1708  St.  Paul  St.,  Baltimore,  Md. 


Some    Pamphlets    For    Sale 

The  Following  tittle  Journeys  by  EJbert  Hubbard, 
in  Booklet  Form,  with  the  Portrait  of  Each  Subject 


Samuel  Adams 

John  Quincy  Adams 

Thomas  Jefferson 

John  Jay 

William  H.  Seward 

Michael  Angelo 

Rembrandt 

Rubens 

Meissonier 

Titian 

Van  Dyck 

Millet 

Ary  Scheffer 

Fortuny 

Joshua  Reynolds 

Landseer 

Gustave  Dore 

Chopin 

Paganini 

Mozart 

Bach 

Liszt 

Beethoven 

Handel 

Verdi 

Schumann 


Brahms 

Leonardo 

Thorwaldsen 

Gainsborough 

Botticelli 

Velasquez 

Corot 

Correggio 

Bellini 

Cellini 

Abbey 

Whistler 

Pericles 

Mark  Antony 

Savonarola 

Luther 

Burke 

Pitt 

Marat 

Patrick  Henry 

Starr  King 

Beecher 

Phillips 

Socrates 

Seneca 

Aristotle 


The  Price  is  Ten  l  ems  Each  or  One  Dollar  tor  Ten— as  long  as  they  last 

The    Roycrofters,    East   Aurora,    New  York 


Colonial  Furniture  in  Demand. 

Old  Boston  and  old  Gotham  as  represented 
by  several  spirited  individuals,  had  an  inter- 
esting contest  in  bidding  for  old  Colonial  fur- 
niture at  an  afternoon  sale  of  the  Gilbert  col- 
lection yesterday  at  the  American  Art  Galler- 
ies. 1  Boston,  in  the  person  of  J.  J.  Higginson, 
was  the  victor  in  every  contest,  and  won  the 
chief  prizes  of  the  day.  But  the  prizes  cost 
him  a  good  round  sum  to  take  to  his  new 
home  outside  the  modern  Athens. 

He  gave  his  check  calling  for  $1540  for  a  set 
of  12  Heppelwhite  chairs,  $255  for  a  drop- front 
desk,  $440  for  a  Hogarth  chair  settee,  $265  for 
a  Chippendale  lowboy,  $260  for  a  Colonial  sofa 
and  $300  for  six  Colonial  chairs.  New  Eng- 
land was  represented  also  by  Gov.  Bulkeley 
of  Connecticut,  who  gave  $2400  for  the  pair  of 
Jefferson  tables  and  $740  for  a  pair  of  Sheraton 
knife  urns.  James  Breese  paid  $1020  for  six 
Chippendale  chairs  originally  owned  by  Lord 
Fairfax  of  Virginia,  $285  for  six  mahogany 
chairs,  $410  for  a  snap  table  and  $105  for  a 
high-post  bed.  The  total  for  the  session  was 
$27,867.00.— Boston  Transcript,  Dec.  20,  1904. 


ALL  the  furni- 
-*^"  ture  which  is 
here  mentioned  «£* 
was  made  a  hun- 
dred years  ago  by 
men  who  had  the 
time,  talent  and  in- 
clination to  make  it 
well  J*  We  think 
we  make  the  best 

jfurntture 

today  in  America. 
U  We  make  FURNITURE  that  is  an  endowment  invest- 
ment for  you — you  use  it  and  can  pass  it  on  to  your 
heirs.  It  does  not  wear  out,  and  like  true  friendship, 
grows  better  with  the  passing  years.  We  have  the  plant, 
the  people,  the  materials,  the  time.  If  you  are  interested, 
write  u^  for  cuts  of  our  AURORA  COLONIAL  designs. 

THE    ROYCROFTERS 

AT  THEIR   SHOP  WHICH  IS  IN  EAST  AURORA, 
ERIE  COUNTY,    YORK  STATE,  U.  S.  A. 


& 
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THE  ROYCROFTERS,  East  Aurora,  N.  Y. 


vol.  xvi  FEBRUARY,  1905  NO.  2 


tttle 


Co  Homes  of  <§reat  Scientists 

By    ELBERT    HUBBJtRD 


GALILEO 


Single  Copies  25  cents    By  the  Year,  $3. 00 


A  Missionary  Move 

F  your  subscription  reaches  us  within 
two  weeks  after  you  receive  this  offer, 
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LITTLE  JOURNEYS  BY  ELBERT  HUBBARD,  FOR 
1905  WILL  BE  TO  THE  HOMES  OF  GREAT  SCIEN- 
TISTS, AND  THE  SUBJECTS  ARE  AS  FOLLOWS: 


Copernicus 

Galileo 

Sir  Isaac  Newton 

Humboldt 

Sir  Wm.  H.  Herschel 

Charles  R.  Darwin 


Ernst  Haeckel 
Carl  von  Linnaeus 
Thomas  H.  Huxley 
John  Tyndall 
Alfred  Russel  Wallace 
John  Fiske 


Address  THE   ROYCROFTERS  at  their  Shop, 
which  is  at  East  Aurora,  Erie  County,  New  York 


Entered  at  the  postoffice  at  East  Aurora,  New  York,  for  transmission  as 
second-class  mail  matter.  Copyright,  1905,  by  Elbert  Hubbard 


The  lollypop,  loblol- 
by,  lobscouse  loafers 
who  never  put  mag- 
azines back  where 
they  found  them  may 
have  a  slight  excuse 
— often  there  is  no 
regular  place  to  keep 
the  Good  Stuff.  This 
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THE  ROY CROFTERS 

FURNITURE     D    E    P    A    R    T    M    E3  N    T 
KAST     AURORA,     ERIE    COUNTY,    NEW     YORK 


Formulas  For 
Bookbinders 


By 
LOUIS  H.  KINDER 

Author  of  "The  Whisper' 
and  Head  Binder  in  the 
Roycroft  Shop 


Beinga  collection  of  Trade  Formulas,  the  result  of 
twenty-five  years'  study  and  practice  in  the  Arts 
of  Tooling  in  Gold,  Edge-Gilding',  Marbling, 
Stamping,  and  the  various  other  departments 
of  bookbinding. 
CIRCULARS  ON  APPLICATION 

SOME  OF  THE  SUBJECTS  COVERED 

Finishing  and  Stamping  Edge  Gilding  and  Metal  Edges 

Stamping  of  Ooze  Leather  Colored  &  Red- under-Gold  Edges 

Tooling  of  Levant  Book-Edge  Marbling 

Stamping  of  Silk  (Badges,  etc.)  Miscellaneous  Formulas 

Only  those  who  have  struggled  to  attain  perfection  can 
appreciate  the  value  of  this  volume.  Here  are  trade 
secrets  for  which  men  have  paid,  and  wisely,  thousands 
of  dollars — secrets  that  have  heretofore  been  jealously 
guarded  by  the  masters  of  this  most  difficult  craft. 
This  book  will  be  of  great  benefit  to  every  binder  who 
is  satisfied  only  with  the  best.  Bench  workers  have 
very  little  time  for  experiment — they  want  results,  and 
here  Mr.  Kinder,  a  master,  steps  in  and  gives  you 
just  the  final  word  you  need. 

On  Imperial  Japan  Paper,  One  Hundred  and  Twenty  Pages,  size 
of  page  9x12.  Bound  solidly  and  plainly  in  boards.  The  Price  is 
Twenty-Five  Dollars  in  advance. 

THE    ROYCROFTERS 

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Roycroft    Summer   School 

For  Boys  and  Girls  from  Fifteen  to  Seventy 


CONDUCTED  BY  THE  ROYCROFTERS  IN  CONNEC- 
TION WITH  THE  WORK  OF  THE  ROYCROFT  SHOP 

There  are  classes  as  follows,  also  daily  lectures  on  Art,  Music, 
Literature,  Physiology,  Nature-Study,  History  and  Right-Liv- 
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Roycroft  camp,  etc.,  etc. 

TERMS:  Twelve  Dollars  a  week,  including  board  and  lodging. 
This  includes  admission  to  all  lectures,  concerts  and  classes. 

Subjects  as  Follows 

Mathematics          Economics          Geology          Domestic  Science 
Blacksmithing  Painting  Physical   Culture 

French  German  Spanish 

Italian  Instrumental   Music  Outdoor  Bird  Study 

Greek  History       Reading       Roman  History         Violin 

Outdoor  Botany         English  Literature 

Vocal  Music  Horticulture  and  Gardening  Illuminating 

Architecture          Cabinet  Work          Outdoor  Sketching 

Wood-Carving        Hand-Tooling        Printing 

Bookbinding  Modeled  and  Incised  Leather  Work 

Self-Expression  thru  Instrumental  Music;  Harmony 

and  Composition 

For  Further  Information  you  may  Address 

LYMAN   CHANDLER,   PRINCIPAL,  East  Aurora,   N.  Y. 


MIGHT  HAVE  SAVED  IT 
A  Lot  of  Trouble  from  Too  Much  Starchy  Food. 


A  little  boy  of  eight  years  whose  parents  did  not  feed 
him  on  the  right  kind  of  food,  was  always  nervous  and 
suffered  from  a  weak  condition  of  the  stomach  and  bow- 
els. Finally  he  was  taken  down  with  appendicitis  and 
after  the  operation  the  doctor,  knowing  that  his  intestinal 
digestion  was  very  weak,  put  him  on  Grape-Nuts  twice 
a  day. 

He  rapidly  recovered  and  about  two  months  thereafter, 
his  Father  states,  "  He  has  grown  to  be  strong,  muscular, 
and  sleeps  soundly,  weighs  62  pounds,  and  his  whole 
system  is  in  a  fine  condition  of  health."  Name  given  by 
Postum  Co.,  Battle  Creek,  Mich. 

It  is  plain  that  if  he  had  been  put  on  Grape-Nuts  at  an 
earlier  period  in  his  life,  and  kept  from  the  use  of  foods 
that  he  could  not  digest,  he  never  would  have  had  ap- 
pendicitis. That  disease  is  caused  by  undigested  food  de- 
caying in  the  stomach  and  bowels,  causing  irritation  and 
making  for  the  growth  of  all  kinds  of  microbes,  setting  up 
a  diseased  condition  which  is  the  active  cause  of  appen- 
dicitis, and  this  is  more  marked  with  people  who  do  not 
properly  digest  white  bread. 

Grape-Nuts  is  made  of  the  selected  parts  of  wheat 
and  barley  and  by  the  peculiar  processes  of  the  cooking 
at  the  factory,  all  of  the  starch  is  turned  into  grape  sugar 
ready  for  immediate  digestion  and  the  more  perfect 
nourishment  of  all  parts  of  the  body,  particularly  the 
brain  and  nerve  centers. 

Read  the  little  book,  "  The  Road  to  Wellville,"  found 
in  each  pkg. 


TO  HOMES 
OF  GREAT 
SCIENTISTS 


WRITTEN  BY  ELBERT 
HUBBARD  AND  DONE 
INTO  BOOK  FORM  BY 


THEIR  SHOP,  WHICH 
IS  IN  EAST  AURORA, 
NEW  YORK.  A.D.  MCMV 


GALILEO 


Q  a  I  i  I  e  o 


AM  inclined  to  believe  that  the  intention  of  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures  is  to  give  to  mankind  the  information  necessary  for  their 
Salvation. 

But  I  do  not  hold  it  necessary  to  believe  that  the  same  God  who  has 
endowed  us  with  senses,  with  speech,  with  intellect,  intended  that  we 
should  neglect  the  use  of  these,  and  seek  by  other  means  for  knowl- 
edge which  these  are  sufficient  to  procure  us ;  especially  in  a  science 
like  astronomy,  of  which  so  little  notice  is  taken  by  the  Scriptures, 
that  none  of  the  planets,  excepting  the  sun  and  moon  and  once  or 
twice  only  Venus,  by  the  name  of  Lucifer,  are  so  much  as  named  at 
all^^t 

This  therefore  being  granted,  methinks  that  in  the  discussion  of  nat- 
ural problems  we  ought  not  to  begin  at  the  authority  of  texts  of 
Scripture  but  at  sensible  experiments  and  necessary  demonstrations. 

GALILEO. 


A     L     I      L     E     O 

ITH  the  history  of  Copernicus  and  Gali- 
leo there  is  connected  a  man  of  such 
stern  and  striking  individuality  that  the 
story  of  the  evolution  of  astronomy  can- 
not be  told  and  this  man's  name  left  out. 
Giordano  Bruno  was  born  in  1548.  His 
parents  were  obscure  people,  and  his 
childhood  and  early  education  are  en- 
veloped in  mystery.  Occasional  passa- 
ges in  his  writings  refer  to  his  sympathy 
for  outcast  children,  and  he  quotes  the 
saying  of  Jesus,  "Suffer  little  children  to 
come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them  not,  for 
of  such  is  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven." 
He  then  refers  to  himself  as  having  been 
a  waif  and  robbed  of  the  love  that  was 
his  due,  "the  lawful,  legal  heritage  of 
every  child,  sent  without  its  consent  into 
a  world  of  struggle  and  strife,  where  only 
love  makes  existence  possible." 
Evidently  the  early  life  of  Bruno  was  a 
symbol  and  shadow  of  what  fate  held  in 
store  for  him. 

The  first  authentic  knowledge  we  have 
of  Bruno  was  when  he  was  twenty-two 
years  old.  He  was  then  a  Dominican 
monk,  and  he  is  brought  to  our  attention 
because  he  distinguished  himself  by  in- 

31 


LITTLE  curring  the  displeasure  of  his  superiors.  His  particu- 
JOURNEYS  lar  offense  was  that  he  had  declared,  "  The  infallibility 
of  the  Pope  is  only  in  matters  spiritual,  and  does  not 
apply  to  the  science  of  material  things." 
Strangely  enough  these  words  of  Bruno  are  almost 
identical  with  words  recently  expressed  by  Cardinal 
Satolli.  The  difference  in  their  reception  is  owing  to  a 
mere  matter  of  a  few  hundred  years.  Truth  is  a  ques- 
tion of  time  and  place.  Bruno  was  banished  for  his 
temerity,  and  Satolli  wears  the  red  hat.  Verily  the 
heresy  of  yesterday  is  the  orthodoxy  of  to-day. 


'HE  Churchly  attitude  toward  the  teaching 
of  Copernicus,  after  the  death  of  the  man, 
was  one  of  patronizing  pity.  Instead  of 
putting  his  book, "Revolutions  of  the  Heav- 
enly Bodies  "  on  the  Index,  the  wiser  plan 
was  adopted  of  paying  no  attention  to  it» 
Occasionally,  however,  the  subject  was  broached  by 
some  incautious  novitiate  and  then  the  custom  was  to 
treat  the  Copernican  Theory  as  a  mere  hypothesis, 
and  its  author  as  a  mental  defective. 
Bruno  would  not  have  it  so.  To  him  it  was  a  very  im- 
portant matter  whether  the  sun  revolved  around  the 
earth  as  the  priests  taught,  or  the  earth  revolved  around 
the  sun  as  set  forth  in  the  work  of  Copernicus.  He 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  Copernicus  was  right,  and 
said  so.  It  was  ordered  that  he  should  cease  lecturing 
on  astronomy  and  apply  himself  to  spiritual  matters. 
32 


He  argued  that  he  should  be  allowed  to  think  and  speak      LITTLE 
what  he  pleased  about  the  stars,  since  the  whole  mat-     JOURNEYS 
ter  was  one  of  opinion,  and  even  the   Pope  did  not 
know,  positively,  the  final  facts  of  astronomy,  and  if 
the  Copernican  Theory  was  a  hypothesis,  so  also  was 
the  Ptolemaic  Theory,  held  by  the  Church. 
It  will  be  seen  that  Bruno  and  Copernicus  were  very 
different  in  temperament — one  was  gentle,  diplomatic, 
cautious;  the  other  was  headstrong,  firm  and  full  of 
argument. 

Bruno  was  given  his  choice — to  cease  the  study  of 
astronomy  or  lay  aside  the  frock  of  the  Dominicans. 
<J  The  hardihood  of  the  young  man  was  seen  in  that  he 
unfrocked  himself,  thinking  that  once  outside  of  the 
order  he  was  not  responsible  to  a  superior  and  could 
teach  what  he  pleased,  so  long  as  it  was  not  "heresy." 
<J  Heresy  is  treason  to  the  Church,  but  Bruno  could 
not  see  how  spiritual  dogma  could  cover  the  facts  of 
Physical  Science,  since  new  facts  were  constantly 
being  discovered,  and  the  material  universe  could  only 
be  understood  by  being  studied.  He  was  too  innocent 
to  comprehend  that  a  vast  majority  of  the  people  be- 
lieved that  popes,  cardinals  and  priests  knew  every- 
thing, and  that  when  any  branch  of  knowledge  was 
questioned  it  placed  the  priests  in  doubt.  Certainly 
the  Church  has  not  opposed  Science — she  has  only  op- 
posed heresy.  But  the  curious  fact  is  that  advancing 
Science  has  usually  been  to  the  Church  heretical. 
When  Bruno  opposed  anything  that  the  priests  taught 
he  opposed  the  Church. 

33 


LITTLE     He  was  warned  to  leave  Rome — his  life  was  in  danger* 
JOURNEYS     (JHe  fled  to  Geneva,  the  home  of  Calvin. 

Here  he  thought,  surely,  he  could  speak  and  write  as 
he  chose. 

But  alas !  Protestantism  cared  even  less  about  Science 
than  did  the  monks,  and  "heresy"  to  John  Calvin  was 
quite  as  serious  a  matter  as  it  was  to  Calvin's  com- 
petitor, the  Pope  of  Rome. 

The  Protestants  of  Geneva  gave  Bruno  scant  atten- 
tion— they  had  never  heard  of  Copernicus,  and  the 
movements  of  the  stars  were  as  nothing  to  them,  since 
the  world  was  soon  to  come  to  an  end.  The  learned 
men  were  even  then  making  mathematical  calculations, 
based  on  the  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament  as  to 
how  soon  the  general  destruction  would  take  place. 
C{  Bruno  sought  to  argue  them  out  of  their  childish- 
ness, with  the  result  that  he  got  himself  marked  as  an 
infidel  and  a  dangerous  man. 

From  Geneva  he  went  to  Lyons,  then  to  Paris,  where 
his  personality  made  itself  felt  and  he  was  given  a 
hearing  at  the  University.  Here  he  remained  for  sev- 
eral years,  when  he  went  to  England,  arriving  there 
in  1584,  the  same  year  that  a  rustic  by  the  name  of 
William  Shakespeare,  from  Stratford,  reached  Lon- 
don. Whether  they  ever  met  is  doubtful. 
Bruno  spoke  five  languages  and  his  polite  accomplish- 
ments afforded  him  an  immediate  entry  into  the  best 
circles  of  society.  He  was  entertained  at  the  home  of 
Sir  Philip  Sidney,  and  afterward  carried  on  quite  a 
correspondence  with  this  prince  of  gentlemen.  Gre- 
34 


ville  presented  Bruno  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  invited      LITTLE 
him  to  lecture  at  the  Court  on  his  favorite  theme.  This      JOURNEYS 
he  did,  and  it  is  quite  probable  that  the  noble  lords  and 
ladies  left  "calls"  so  they  could  be  awakened  when 
the  lecture  was  over  and  congratulate  the  speaker  of 
the  evening  on  his  effort. 

At  Oxford  there  were  disputations  where  Bruno's  fault- 
less Latin  impressed  the  pedants  much  more  than  did 
his  argument,  so  they  offered  him  a  position  as  Pro- 
fessor of  Languages,  but  this  he  smilingly  declined, 
excusing  himself  on  the  grounds  that  he  had  important 
business  on  the  Continent — and  he  had.  Already  they 
were  collecting  fagots  for  his  benefit. 
He  returned  to  Paris  and  began  his  lecturing  on  Sci- 
ence. His  arguments  had  convinced  one  person,  at 
least,  and  that  was  himself,  that  as  the  Church  knew 
nothing  of  physical  Science,  why,  possibly  it  stood  in 
a  like  position  regarding  spiritual  truth.  That  is  to  say, 
the  so-called  "  sacred  truths  "  were  mere  assumptions 
piled  up  to  satisfy  the  people,  and  the  ignorance  and 
superstition  of  the  many  marked  high  water  for  the 
teaching  of  the  priests.  The  business  of  the  Church 
was  to  satisfy  the  people,  and  not  enlighten  them,  for 
if  the  people  became  enlightened  enough  they  would 
see  that  they  did  not  need  the  Church,  and  then  where 
were  the  honors  and  the  riches  and  the  red  hats ! 
Bruno  cleared  his  mind  of  its  cobwebs  by  expression, 
just  as  we  all  do — that  is  what  expression  is  for. 
The  people  really  dictate  to  the  priests  'what  they 
shall  teach ;  moreover,  the  people  absolutely  refuse  to 

35 


LITTLE  listen  to  anything  in  which  they  do  not  believe,  and 
JOURNEYS  decline  to  pay  for  preaching  that  is  not  done  to  their 
own  dictation.  The  business  then  of  the  Church  is  to 
study  carefully  the  ignorance  of  the  people  and  con- 
form to  it.  On  this  one  thing  does  its  stability  depend. 
Therefore  it  must  as  a  matter  of  self-preservation  sup- 
press any  chance  intellect  that  is  ahead  of  its  time, 
lest  this  man  honeycomb  the  whole  structure  of 
Churchly  dogma. 

Bruno  said  that  just  as  the  world  seemed  to  stand 
still  and  the  stars  move  around  us,  so  did  the  Church 
seem  to  most  people  a  fixed  fact.  But  exactly  the  op- 
posite was  true — the  Church  moves  as  the  people 
move,  and  unless  men  outside  of  the  Church  educate 
the  people,  or  the  people  educate  themselves,  they 
will  forever  remain  in  darkness. 

Bruno  offered  to  publicly  debate  the  question  with  the 
Bishop  of  Paris.  That  worthy  was  no  match  for  Bruno 
in  point  of  oratory,  but  when  we  cannot  answer  a 
man's  reasons,  all  is  not  lost,  for  we  can  at  least  call 
him  vile  names,  and  this  is  often  quite  as  effectual  as 
logic  J>  J> 

The  Bishop  launched  a  fusillade  of  theological  lyddite 
at  Bruno,  declaring  that  any  Churchman  who  would 
so  much  as  hold  converse  with  such  a  wretch  was 
disgraced  forever,  and  that  the  propositions  Bruno 
wished  to  argue  were  unthinkable  to  a  self-respecting 
man.  He  declared  that  it  was  only  the  mercy  of  God 
that  kept  the  lightning  from  striking  Bruno  dead  as  he 
wrote  his  heresies. 
36 


Matters  were  getting  strained  and  the  authorities,  fear-      LITTLE 
ing  insurrection,  acted  upon  the  advice  of  the  good     JOURNEYS 
Bishop  and  expelled  Bruno  from  France. 
He  went  to  Wittenberg,  in  his  innocence,  intending  to 
tack  on  the  church  door  there  his  theses.  But  Witten- 
berg had  no  use  for  Bruno — he  believed  too  much,  or 
too  little,  Luther  could  not  tell  which. 
The  University  at  Zurich  now  offered  to  let  the  exile 
come  there  and  teach  what  he  wished.  Thither  he 
journeyed  and  there  his  restless  mind  seemed  for  the 
first  time  to  find  a  home.  His  writings  were  slowly 
making  head,  and  around  him  there  clustered  a  goodly 
group  of  students  who  believed  in  him  and  loved  him. 
Q  In  the  midst  of  this  oasis  in  a  troubled  life,  word 
came  from  some  of  the  old-time  friends  he  had  known 
in  Rome.  They  were  now  in  Venice,  and  wished  to 
have  him  come  there  and  lecture.  Bruno  thought  that 
his  little  leaven  was  leavening  the  whole  lump — he 
was  not  without  ambition — he  was  flattered  by  the  in- 
vitation Jt>  jt 

He  accepted  it  and  went  to  Venice. 
It  was  simply   a  ruse  to  get  the  man  within  striking 
distance.  Very  soon  after  his  arrival  in  Venice  he  was 
arrested  by  agents  of  the  Inquisition  and  secretly  taken 
to  Rome  &  & 

He  was  lodged  in  a  dungeon  of  the  Castle  Saint  Angelo. 
Just  what  his  experience  was  there  we  cannot  say — 
the  horrors  of  it  all  are  not  ours,  for  no  friend  of 
Bruno's  was  allowed  to  approach,  and  what  he  there 
wrote  was  destroyed.  We  do  know,  however,  that  he 

37 


LITTLE     -was  asked  to  recant,  and  we  know  he  refused.  We 
JOURNEYS     also  know  that  he  repeated   his  heresies  and  hurled 
back  into  the  teeth  of  his  accusers  the  invective  they 
heaped  upon  him  jt  & 

Bribery,  persuasion,  threat  and  torture  were  tried  in 
turn,  but  all  in  vain,  for  Bruno  would  not  swerve. 
Unlike  Savonarola  his  quivering  flesh  could  not  wring 
from  his  heart  an  apology.  He  scorned  the  rack  and 
thumbscrew,  declaring  they  could  not  reach  his  soul. 
He  knew  that  death  would  be  the  end — he  prayed  for 
it,  and  even  thought  to  hasten  it  by  an  aggravating 
manner  and  harshness  of  speech  toward  his  captors, 
seemingly  quite  unnecessary. 

For  seven  years  he  was  in  prison.  He  was  burned 
alive  on  February  7,  1600,  aged  fifty-two.  'When  bound 
to  the  stake  he  turned  his  face  from  the  crucifix  that 
was  held  before  him,  and  sought  to  kiss  the  fagots. 
His  ashes  were  thrown  to  the  four  winds. 


>N  the  year  1564  Galileo  Galilei  was  born, 
consequently  he  was  thirty-six  years  old 
when  Bruno  was  executed.  He  had  known 
Bruno,  attended  many  of  his  lectures,  and 
had  followed  his  career  with  interest ;  and 
while  he  agreed  with  him  as  to  the  Coper- 
nican  theory  of  the  earth's  revolution,  he  took  excep- 
tions to  Bruno's  arbitrary  way  of  presenting  the  mat- 
ter, and  to  his  scathing  criticisms  of  Theology.  At  this 
time  Galileo  could  not  see  that  the  extravagant  words 
38 


of  Bruno  were  largely  forced  from  him  by  the  violence      LITTLE 
of  the  opposition  he  had  encountered.  Galileo  fully  be-      JOURNEYS 
lieved  that  Bruno  had  been  put  to  death  for  treason  to 
the  Church,  and  not  on  account  of  his  astronomical 
teachings  jfr  J> 

These  men  had  come  up  from  totally  different  stations 
in  life.  Bruno  was  a  man  of  the  people — a  self-made 
man — who  bore  upon  his  person  the  marks  of  the  ham- 
mer. Galileo  was  of  noble  blood,  and  traced  an  ances- 
try to  a  Gonfalonier  of  Florence.  From  early  infancy 
he  had  enjoyed  association  with  polite  persons,  and 
had  sat  on  the  knees  of  greatness. 

When  eighteen  he  graduated  from  the  University  of 
Pisa ;  and  at  that  early  age  his  family  and  friends  were 
comparing  him,  not  without  reason,  to  a  Genius  who 
had  come  out  of  Tuscany  some  years  before,  Leonardo 
da  Vinci  <&  Jt, 

Parents  either  exaggerate  the  talents  of  their  children 
or  else  belittle  them.  The  woman  who  bore  George 
Gordon  called  him  "that  lame  brat;  "  but  we  call  him 
"The  Poet  Byron."  Benjamin  Franklin  ran  away  from 
home,  and  his  family  thought  themselves  disgraced  by 
his  printed  utterances.  The  mother  of  George  "Wash- 
ington, on  being  told  that  her  son  had  been  made  Com- 
mander in  Chief,  laughed  knowingly,  and  said,  "They 
don't  know  him  as  well  as  I  do!"  Voltaire's  father 
posted  his  son  as  irresponsible,  tied  up  a  legacy  so 
"the  scapegrace  could  not  waste  it,"  invested  good 
money  in  daily  prayers  to  be  said  for  the  scapegrace's 
salvation,  and  then  died  of  a  broken  heart,  just  as  play- 

39 


LITTLE  actors  do  on  the  stage,  only  this  man  died  sure  enough. 
JOURNEYS  Alfred  Tennyson  at  thirteen  wrote  a  poem  addressed 
to  his  grandfather;  the  old  gentleman  gave  him  a 
guinea  for  it,  and  then  wrote  these  words :  "  This  is 
the  first  and  last  penny  you  will  ever  receive  for  wri- 
ting poetry."  The  father  of  Shelley  misquoted  Job,  and 
said,  "Oh,  to  be  brought  down  to  the  grave  in  grief 
through  the  follies  of  an  ungrateful  child!"  And  La- 
bouchere  says  that  one  of  the  four  brothers  of  Shake- 
speare used  to  explain  that  he  wasn't  the  play-actor 
who  wrote  "  Hamlet"  and  "  Othello  "  lest,  mayhap,  his 
name  should  be  smirched. 

Galileo's  mother  had  that  beautiful  dream  which  I  be- 
lieve all  good  mothers  have — that  her  son  might  be 
the  Savior  of  the  world.  As  he  grew  to  manhood,  her 
faith  in  him  did  not  relax. 

Even  in  childhood  Galileo  showed  great  skill  in  in- 
vention. He  made  curious  toys  with  cogs  and  wheels 
and  eccentrics ;  whittled  out  violins,  and  transformed 
simple  reeds  into  lutes,  upon  which  he  played  music 
of  his  own  composition.  In  fact,  so  great  was  his  skill 
in  music  that  at  twenty  they  wished  to  make  him  of- 
ficial organist  and  choir-master  of  the  Cathedral.  His 
personal  taste,  however,  ran  more  to  painting,  and  for 
some  months  he  worked  at  his  canvases  with  an  ardor 
too  great  to  last  long.  If  ever  a  man  was  touched  by 
the  Spirit  of  the  Renaissance,  it  was  young  Galileo. 
"  Upon  him  has  fallen  the  mantle  of  Michael  Angelo," 
the  Archbishop  of  Pisa  said.  He  gave  lectures  on  Art, 
and  taught  Painting  by  actual  example.  One  of  his 
40 


pupils,  a  great  artist,  Lodovico  Cigoli,  always  main-      LITTLE 
tained  that  it  was  to  the  inspiration  and   counsel  of     JOURNEYS 
Galileo  that  he  owed  his  success. 

There  are  really  only  two  things  to  see  at  Pisa;  one  is 
the  Leaning  Tower,  from  which  Galileo  with  line  and 
plummet  made  some  of  his  most  interesting  experi- 
ments ;  and  the  other  is  the  Cathedral  where  the  vis- 
itor beholds  the  great  bronze  lamp  that  is  suspended 
from  the  vaulted  ceiling.  'When  he  was  twenty-one, 
sitting  in  the  silence  of  this  beautiful  church  (which 
the  passing  years  have  only  made  more  beautiful),  he 
noticed  that  there  was  a  slight  swinging  motion  to  this 
lamp :  it  was  never  still.  Galileo  set  to  work  timing 
and  measuring  these  oscillations,  and  found  that  they 
were  always  done  in  exact  measure  and  in  perfect 
rhythm.  This  led,  some  years  later,  to  the  perfecting 
of  an  astronomical  clock  for  measuring  the  movements 
of  the  stars.  And  from  this  we  got  the  pendulum  clock, 
where  before  we  had  depended  on  sun-dials. 
The  endeavor  of  Galileo's  parents  had  been  to  keep  him 
ignorant  of  mathematics  and  practical  life,  that  he 
might  blossom  forth  as  a  saint  who  would  sing  and 
play  and  make  pictures  like  those  of  Leonardo,  and 
carve  statues  like  Michael  Angelo,  only  better. 
But  parents  plan,  and  fate  disposes.  In  1583,  the 
famous  mathematician  Ostilio  Ricci  chanced  to  be  in 
Pisa,  on  his  way  from  Rome  to  Milan,  and  gave  a  lec- 
ture at  the  Court,  on  Geometry.  Galileo  was  not  in- 
terested in  the  theme,  but  he  was  in  the  speaker,  and 
so  he  attended  the  lecture. 

41 


LITTLE  This  action  proved  to  be  a  pivotal  point  in  his  life. 
JOURNEYS  CJ  "  Whether  other  people  really  teach  us  anything,  is  a 
question,"  says  Stanley  Hall,  "but  they  do  sometimes 
give  us  impulses,  and  make  us  find  out  for  ourselves." 
CJRicci  made  Galileo  find  out  for  himself.  From  Plato, 
he  turned  to  Archimedes.  Geometry  became  a  passion, 
and  a  wise  man  has  told  us  that  we  never  accomplish 
anything,  either  good  or  bad,  -without  passion.  Passion 
means  one  hundred  pounds  of  steam  on  the  boiler, 
with  love  sitting  on  the  safety-valve,  when  the  blow- 
off  is  set  for  fifty.  It  surely  is  risky  business,  I  will 
admit;  accidents  occasionally  occur  and  explosions 
sometimes  happen,  but  everything  is  risky,  even  life, 
since  few  get  out  of  it  alive.  And  so,  to  drop  back  to 
the  original  proposition,  nothing  great  and  sublime  is 
ever  done  without  passion. 

Galileo  had  had  his  mechanical  whooping-cough,  mu- 
sical mumps,  artistic  measles,  and  now  the  hectic 
flush  of  mathematics  burned  on  his  cheeks.  He  talked 
and  dreamed  mathematics.  Euclid  was  in  the  saddle. 
QRicci  became  interested  in  the  talented  young  scholar, 
and  remained  longer  at  Pisa  than  he  had  intended, 
that  they  might  sit  up  all  night  and  surprise  the  rising 
sun,  discussing  the  beauties  of  dimensions  and  the 
wonders  of  dynamics. 

Together  they  went  to  Florence,  where  Ricci  intro- 
duced his  pupil  as  a  pedagogic  sample  of  the  goods, 
just  as  Booker  Washington  usually  takes  with  him  on 
his  travels  a  few  ebony  homo  bricks  as  specimens  from 
Tuskegee  jfc  & 
42 


The  beauty  and  grace  of  Galileo's  speech  and  presence 
quite  put  the  abstract  Ricci  in  the  shadow.  The  right 
man  can  make  anything  interesting,  just  as  Dean  Swift 
could  write  an  entrancing  essay  with  the  broomstick 
as  a  central  theme.  The  man  's  the  thing,  Hamlet  to 
the  contrary,  notwithstanding. 

Galileo  knew  the  Florentine  heart  and  so  he  gave  lec- 
tures on  a  Florentine — one  Dante,  who  loved  a  girl 
named  Beatrice.  The  young  Pisan  drew  diagrams  of 
Dante's  Inferno — and  surely  it  was  nobody  else's.  He 
gave  its  size,  height,  weight,  and  told  how  to  reach  it. 
He  gave  lectures  on  the  Hydrostatic  Balance  and  the 
Centers  of  Gravity,  and  published  them  as  serials.  The 
Florentines  crowned  him  with  bay  and  proclaimed 
him  "The  Modern  Archimedes." 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


>ISA  now  put  forth  efforts  to  have  her  gifted 
son  come  home.  There  was  always  rivalry 
between  Pisa  and  Florence.  Pisa  could 
not  afford  to  supply  Florence  her  men  of 
genius,  let  her  depend  upon  home  pro- 
duction, or  go  without. 
Galileo  became  Professor  of  Mathematics  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pisa,  a  life  position,  or  at  least  one  he  could 
hold  during  good  behavior. 

One  of  the  time-honored  dictums  of  the  day  was  that 
falling  bodies  fell  with  a  velocity  proportioned  to  their 
weight.  The  question  was  first  thrashed  out  in  the 
class-room  ;  and  after  Galileo  had  somewhat  slyly  got- 

43 


LITTLE  ten  all  of  these  scientific  wiseacres  to  commit  them- 
JOURNEYS  selves,  he  invited  them,  with  all  their  students,  to  the 
Leaning  Tower.  Then  he  proved  by  ocular  demon- 
strations that  they  were  positively  wrong. 
It  is  very  beautiful  to  teach  Truth,  but  error  should 
not  be  corrected  with  too  much  eclat.  If  the  love  of 
Truth,  alone,  was  the  guiding  impulse  of  Galileo,  he 
might  have  secretly  explained  his  theory  to  one  of  the 
wiseacres,  and  this  wiseacre  could  have  casually  de- 
monstrated it,  so  all  the  rest  could  have  said,  "That  is 
what  we  always  knew  and  taught." 
Instead  of  this,  Galileo  compelled  the  entire  faculty  to 
back  water  and  dine  on  fricasseed  crow.  They  got 
even  by  calling  him  "a  scientifico  bastardino,"  and  at 
his  next  lecture,  he  was  roundly  hissed.  Soon  after  he 
was  bluntly  informed  that  his  office  was  to  teach  the 
young,  and  not  undo  the  old. 

And  that  is  the  way  the  troubles  of  Galileo  began. 
He  might  then  have  apologized,  and  slipped  back  into 
peace  and  obscurity,  and  later  been  tucked  in  by  kind 
oblivion.  But  he  had  tasted  blood,  and  the  rabies  of 
setting  the  scientific  world  straight,  for  its  own  good, 
was  upon  him. 

That  he  was  wrong  in  correcting  his  elders,  he  would 
not  for  a  moment  admit ;  and  he  was  even  guilty  of  say- 
ing, "Antiquity  cannot  sanctify  that  which  is  wrong 
in  reason  and  false  in  principle." 

Soon  after  he  committed  another  forepaugh  by  showing 
that  a  wonderful  boat  invented  by  Giovanni  de  Medici 
for  fighting  hostile  ships,  would  not  work,  since  there 
44 


were  no  men  on  board  to  guide  it,  and  its  automatic      LITTLE 
steering  apparatus  would  quite  as  likely  run  its  nose     JOURNEYS 
into  land,  as  into  the  hull  of  the  enemy.  He  also  dec- 
orated his  argument  with  a  few  subtle  touches  as  to 
the  beauty  of  fighting  battles  without  going  to  war  and 
risking  life  and  limb. 

Men  who  are  not  kind  to  the  faults  of  royalty  can  hope 
for  small  favor  in  a  monarchy,  even  though  the  mon- 
archy be  a  republic. 

Galileo  was  cut  off  the  Standard  Oil  payroll,  and  forced 
to  apply  to  a  teachers'  agency,  that  he  might  find  em- 
ployment. He  did  not  wait  long;  the  rival  University  of 
Padua  tendered  him  a  position  on  a  silver  platter ;  and 
the  Paduans  made  much  dole  about  how  unfortunate 
it  was  that  men  could  not  teach  Truth  in  Italy,  save 
at  Padua — alas  ! 

The  Governing  Board  of  Padua  made  a  great  stroke  in 
securing  Galileo,  and  Pisa  fell  back  on  her  Leaning 
Tower  as  her  chief  attraction. 

From  a  position  of  mediocrity,  the  University  of  Padua 
gradually  rose  to  one  of  world-wide  celebrity.  Galileo 
remained  at  Padua  from  1592  to  1610,  which  years  are 
famous  not  alone  through  the  wonderful  inventions  of 
Galileo,  but  because  in  that  same  interval  of  time,  at 
least  thirty  of  Shakespeare's  thirty-seven  plays  were 
written.  Surely,  God  was  smiling  on  the  planet  Earth! 
Q  Galileo's  salary  was  raised  yearly,  starting  at  two 
hundred  florins,  until  it  reached  over  one  thousand 
florins,  not  to  mention  the  numerous  gifts  from  grate- 
ful pupils,  old  and  young.  Students  came  to  Padua 

45 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


from  all  over  the  world  to  hear  Galileo's  lectures. 
Starting  with  a  common  class-room,  the  audience  in- 
creased so  that  a  special  auditorium  was  required  that 
•would  seat  two  thousand  persons.  It  was  during  this 
time  that  Galileo  invented  the  proportional  compasses, 
an  instrument  now  everywhere  in  use,  without  the 
slightest  change  having  been  made  in  it. 
He  also  invented  the  thermometer ;  but  greatest,  best 
and  most  -wonderful  of  all,  he  produced  an  instrument 
through  which  he  could  view  the  stars,  and  see  them 
much  magnified.  With  this  instrument,  he  saw  heav- 
enly bodies  that  had  never  been  seen  before ;  he  be- 
held that  Jupiter  had  satellites  which  moved  in  orbits, 
and  that  Venus  revolved,  showing  different  sides  at 
different  times,  thus  proving  that  which  Copernicus 
declared  was  true,  but  which,  for  lack  of  apparatus,  he 
could  not  prove. 

Galileo  Galilei  was  getting  to  be  something  more  than 
a  professor  of  mathematics — he  was  becoming  a  world- 
power.  The  lever  of  his  mind  was  finding  a  fulcrum. 


[HE  year  1609  is  forever  fixed  in  history, 
through  the  fact  that  in  that  year  Galileo 
invented  the  telescope. 
Every  good  thing  is  an  evolution.  "  Specil- 
lum,"  or  helps  to  read,  had  been  made, 
and  sold  privately  and  mysteriously,  as 
early  as  the  year  1400.  These  first  magnifying  glasses 
were  associated  with  magic,  or  wonder-working;  the 
46 


words  magnify  and  magic  having  a  common  source  and  LITTLE 
a  similar  meaning.  Magicians  wore  big  square  glasses,  JOURNEYS 
and  by  their  aid,  some  of  them  claimed  to  see  things 
at  great  distance ;  and  also  to  perceive  things  stolen, 
hidden,  or  lost.  Occasionally,  the  magician  would  per- 
suade his  customer  to  try  on  the  glasses,  and  then 
even  common  men  could  see  for  themselves  that  there 
was  something  in  the  scheme — goodness  me !  The  use 
of  spectacles  were  at  first  confined  entirely  to  these 
wonder-workers — or  men  who  magnified  things  for- 
ever. During  the  Fifteenth  Century,  public  readers 
and  the  priests  occasionally  wore  spectacles.  To  read 
was  a  miracle  to  most  people,  and  a  book  was  a  mys- 
terious and  sacred  thing — or  else  a  diabolical  thing. 
The  populace  would  watch  the  man  put  on  his  "specil- 
lum,"  and  the  idea  was  everywhere  abroad  that  the 
magic  glasses  gave  an  ability  to  read ;  and  that  anybody 
who  was  inspired  by  angels,  or  devils,  who  could  get 
hold  of  spectacles,  could  at  once  read  from  a  book. 
QWe  hear  of  one  magician,  who,  about  the  year  1500, 
made  a  box  with  a  glass  cover  that  magnified  the  con- 
tents. This  great  man  would  catch  a  flea  and  show  it 
to  the  people.  Then  he  would  place  the  flea  in  the  box 
and  show  it  to  them,  and  they  would  see  that  it  had 
grown  enormously  in  an  instant.  The  man  could  make 
it  big  or  little,  by  just  taking  off  and  putting  on  the 
cover  of  the  box !  This  individual  worked  wonders  for 
a  consideration,  but  fate  overtook  him  and  he  was 
smothered  under  a  feather-bed  for  having  too  much 
wizard  in  his  cosmos.  A  wizard,  be  it  known,  is  a  male 

47 


LITTLE  witch,  and  the  Bible  says,  "  Thou  shalt  not  suffer  a 
JOURNEYS  witch  to  live,"  although  it  does  not  say  anything  about 
wizards.  QBut  please  note  this:  the  wizard  who  had 
that  magic  box  and  flea,  had  really  the  first  microscope. 
Q  About  the  year  1607,  Galileo  bought  a  pair  of  "magic 
glasses,"  or  spectacles;  and  his  action,  in  so  doing, 
was  freely  criticized. 

On  a  visit  to  Venice,  where  glass  had  been  manufac- 
tured since  long  before  the  Flood,  Galileo  was  looking 
through  one  of  the  glass  factories,  just  as  visitors  do 
now,  and  one  of  the  workmen  showed  him  a  peculiar 
piece  of  glass  which  magnified  the  hairs  on  the  back 
of  his  hand  many  times. 

In  a  very  few  days  after  this,  Galileo  heard  that  a 
Dutch  spectacle-maker  had  placed  certain  queer  shaped 
pieces  of  glass  in  a  tube,  and  offered  to  sell  this  tube 
to  the  Government,  so  by  its  use,  soldiers  could  per- 
ceive the  movements  of  an  enemy  many  miles  away. 
QThat  night  Galileo  did  not  close  his  eyes  in  sleep. 
He  thought  out  a  plan  by  which  he  could  place  pieces 
of  glass  in  a  tube,  and  bring  the  stars  close  to  earth. 
Q  By  daylight  the  whole  plan  was  clear  in  his  mind, 
and  he  hastened  to  the  shop  of  the  glass-makers.  Two 
lenses  were  made,  one  plano-convex,  and  the  other 
plano-concave,  and  these  were  placed  in  a  tube  made 
of  sheet  copper.  It  was  tested  on  distant  objects;  and 
behold!  they  were  magnified  by  three.  Would  this 
tube  show  the  stars  magnified  ?  Galileo  knew  of  no  rea- 
son why  it  should  not,  but  he  paced  his  room  in  hot 
impatience,  waiting  for  the  night  to  come  with  its  twink- 
48 


ling   wonders,   that  he   might  verify  his  convictions.      LITTLE 
When  the  first  yellow  star  appeared  in  the  west,  Gali-      JOURNEYS 
leo  turned  his  tube  upon  it,  and  behold !  instead  of  twink- 
ling points  of  light,  he  saw  a  round  mass — a  world — 
moving  through  space,  and  not  a  scintillating  object 
with  five  points.  The  twinkling  spikes,  or  points,  were 
merely  an  optical  illusion  of  the  unaided  senses. 
Galileo  made  no  secret  of  his  invention.  It  was  called 
"Galileo's  Tube,"  but   some  of  the   priests  called  it 
Galileo's  "Magic  Tube." 

Yet  it  marked  an  era  in  the  scientific  world.  Galileo 
endeavored  constantly  to  improve  his  instrument;  and 
from  a  threefold  magnifying  power,  he  finally  made 
one  that  magnified  thirty-two  times. 
Galileo  made  hundreds  of  telescopes,  and  sold  them  at 
moderate  prices  to  any  one  who  would  buy.  He  ex- 
plained minutely  the  construction  of  the  instrument, 
showing  how  it  was  made  in  accordance  with  the  nat- 
ural laws  of  optics.  His  desire  was  to  dissipate  the 
superstition  that  there  was  something  diabolical,  or 
supernatural  about  the  "Magic  Tube" — that  in  fact, 
it  was  not  magic,  and  the  operator  had  no  peculiar 
powers ;  you  had  simply  to  comply  with  the  laws  of 
nature,  and  any  one  could  see  for  himself. 
It  is  hard  for  us,  at  this  day,  to  understand  the  opposi- 
tion that  sprang  up  against  the  telescope.  We  must 
remember  that  at  this  time  the  belief  in  witchcraft, 
fairies,  sprites,  ghosts,  hobgoblins,  magic  and  super- 
natural powers  was  common.  Men  who  believe  in  mir- 
acles make  poor  scientists.  There  were  books  about 

49 


LITTLE     "Magic,"  written  by  so-called  scientific  men,  whose 
JOURNEYS     standing  in  the  world   was  quite  as  high  as  that  of 
Galileo  Jt>  & 

In  1610  Galileo  published  his  book  entitled,  "  Sidera 
Medicea,"  wherein  he  described  the  wonders  that 
could  be  seen  in  the  heavens  by  the  aid  of  the  telescope. 
Among  other  things  he  told  how  the  Milky  Way  was 
not  a  great  streak  of  light,  but  was  comprised  of  a  mul- 
titude of  stars ;  and  he  made  a  map  of  stars  that  could 
not  be  seen,  excepting  by  the  aid  of  the  telescope. 
At  this  time  there  resided  in  Venice  a  scientific  man, 
much  more  popular  than  Galileo,  by  the  name  of  Porta. 
He  was  a  priest,  whose  piety  and  learning  was  un- 
impeached.  The  year  after  Galileo  issued  his  book, 
Porta  put  out  a  work  much  more  pretentious,  called 
"Natural  Magic."  In  this  book  Porta  does  not  claim 
that  magicians  all  have  supernatural  powers ;  but  he 
goes  on  to  prove  how  they  deceive  the  world  by  the 
use  of  their  peculiar  apparatus,  and  intimates  that  they 
sometimes  sell  their  souls  to  the  devil,  and  then  are 
positively  dangerous.  He  dives  deep  into  science,  his- 
tory, and  his  own  imagination  to  prove  things.  The 
man  was  no  fool — he  constructed  a  kaleidoscope  that 
showed  an  absolute,  geometrical  symmetry,  where  in 
fact  there  was  only  confusion.  He  showed  how,  by  the 
use  of  mirrors,  things  could  be  made  big,  small,  tall, 
short,  wide,  crooked,  or  distorted.  He  told  of  how 
magicians,  by  the  use  of  Galileo's  tube,  could  show 
seven  stars  where  there  was  only  one;  and  he  even 
made  such  a  tube  of  his  own  and  called  the  priests  to- 
50 


gather  to  look  through  it.  He  painted  stars  on  the  glass,  LITTLE 
and  had  men  look  at  the  heavens.  He  even  stuck  a  JOURNEYS 
louse  on  the  lens  and  located  the  beast  in  the  heavens, 
for  the  benefit  of  a  doubting  Cardinal.  It  "was  all 
a  joke,  but  at  the  time,  no  sober  si  ncereman  of  Sci- 
ence could  argue  him  down.  He  owned  "bum"  tel- 
escopes that  proved  all  kinds  of  things,  to  the  great 
amusement  of  the  enemies  of  Galileo.  The  intent  of 
Porta  was  to  expose  the  frauds  and  fallacies  of  Galileo. 
Porta  also  claimed  that  he  had  seen  telescopes  by 
which  you  could  look  over  a  hill  and  around  a  corner, 
but  he  did  not  recommend  them,  since  by  their  use 
things  were  often  perceived  that  were  not  there. 
And  so  we  see  why  the  priests  positively  refused  to 
look  through  Galileo's  tube,  or  to  believe  anything  he 
said.  Porta,  and  a  few  others  like  him,  showed  a  deal 
more  than  Galileo  could  and  offered  to  locate  stars  any- 
where on  order. 

Galileo  had  much  offended  these  priests  by  his  state- 
ments that  the  Bible  did  not  contain  the  final  facts  of 
Science,  and  now  they  were  getting  even  with  a  ven- 
geance. It  was  all  very  much  like  the  theological  guf- 
faw that  swept  over  Christendom  when  Darwin  issued 
his  "  Origin  of  Species,"  and  Talmage  and  Spurgeon 
set  their  congregations  in  a  roar  by  gentle  references  to 
monkey  ancestry. 


51 


LITTLE     }55g^^^5MID   the   £eneral   popping  of  theological 
JOURNEYS     V£^AX@7  small-arms,  Galileo  moved   steadily   for- 
ward. If  he  had  many  enemies  he  surely 
had  a  few  friends.  As  he  once  had  proved 
more  than  Pisa  could  digest,  so  now  he 
was  bringing  to  the  surface  of  things  more 
truth  than  Padua  could  assimilate.  Venice  too  was  get- 
ting uncomfortable.  Even  the  Doge  once  said,  in  reply 
to  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Galileo,  "  Your  master  is 
not  famous — he  is  merely  notorious." 
It  was  discovered  that  Galileo  had  been  living  with  a 
woman  by  the    name   of  Marina  Gamba,  at  Venice, 
even  while  he  held  the  professorship  at  Padua ;  and 
that  they  had  a  son,  Vincenzo  Gamba,  &  two  daughters. 
One  of  the  enemy  drew  a  map  of  the  heavens,  show- 
ing Galileo  as  the  sun,  Marina  Gamba  as  the  moon, 
and  around  them  circulated  numerous  little  satellites, 
which  were  supposed  to  be  their  children.  The  picture 
had  so  great  a  vogue  that  the  Doge  issued  an  order 
that  all  copies  of  it  be  destroyed. 

Of  Marina  Gamba  we  know  very  little;  but  the  fact 
that  she  made  entries  in  Galileo's  journal  and  kept 
his  accounts,  proves  that  she  was  a  person  of  con- 
siderable intelligence;  and  this  was  at  a  time  when 
semi-oriental  ideas  prevailed  and  education  was  sup- 
posedly beyond  the  feminine  grasp. 
Galileo  did  not  marry  for  the  reason  that  he  was  prac- 
tically a  priest — a  teacher  in  a  religious  school,  living 
with  and  looking  after  the  pupils — and  the  custom  was 
that  one  engaged  in  such  an  occupation  should  not  wed. 
52 


HE  stormy  opposition  to  Galileo  was  not  LITTLE 
without  its  advantages.  We  are  adver-  JOURNEYS 
tised  no  less  by  our  rabid  enemies  than 
by  our  loving  friends.  Cosimo  II.,  Grand- 
Duke  of  Tuscany,  had  intimated  that  Flor- 
ence would  welcome  the  great  astronomer. 
Galileo  moved  to  Florence  under  the  protection  of 
Cosimo,  intending  to  devote  all  of  his  time  to  Science. 
Qln  quitting  school-teaching  and  popular  lecturing, 
he  really  made  a  virtue  of  necessity.  No  orthodox  ly- 
ceum  course  would  tolerate  him ;  he  was  neither  an 
impersonator  nor  an  entertainer ;  the  stereopticon,  and 
the  melodramatic  were  out  of  his  line  and  his  passion 
for  truth  made  him  impossible  to  the  many. 
He  was  treading  the  path  of  Bruno :  the  accusations, 
the  taunts  and  jeers,  the  denials  and  denunciations, 
were  urging  him  on  to  an  unseemly  earnestness. 
Father  Clavius  said  that  Galileo  never  saw  the  satel- 
lites of  Jupiter  until  he  made  an  instrument  that  would 
create  them  ;  and  if  God  had  intended  that  men  should 
see  strange  things  in  the  heavens,  He  would  have  sup- 
plied them  sufficient  eyesight.  The  telescope  was  really 
a  devil's  instrument. 

Still  another  man  declared  that  if  the  earth  moved, 
acorns  falling  from  a  high  tree  would  all  fall  behind 
the  tree  and  not  directly  under  it. 

Father  Brini  said  that  if  the  earth  revolved,  we  would 
all  fall  off  of  it  into  the  air  when  it  was  upside  down ; 
moreover,  its  whirling  through  space  would  create  a 
wind  that  would  sweep  it  bald. 

53 


LITTLE  Father  Caccini  preached  a  sermon  from  the  text,  "  Ye 
JOURNEYS  men  of  Galilee,  why  stand  ye  gazing  up  into  heaven  ?  " 
Only  he  changed  the  word  "Galilee"  to  "Galileo," 
claiming  that  it  was  the  same  thing,  only  different; 
and  as  reward  for  his  wit  he  was  made  a  bishop. 
Cardinal  Bellarmine,  a  man  of  great  energy:  earnest, 
zealous,  sincere  and  learned — the  Dr.  Buckley  of  his 
day — showed  how  that,  "  If  the  Copernican  Theory 
should  prevail,  it  would  be  the  absolute  undoing  of  the 
Bible,  and  the  destruction  of  the  Church,  rendering 
the  death  of  Christ  futile.  If  the  earth  is  only  one  of 
many  planets,  and  not  the  center  of  the  universe,  and 
the  other  planets  are  inhabited,  the  whole  plan  of  sal- 
vation fails,  since  the  inhabitants  of  the  other  spheres 
are  without  the  Bible,  and  Christ  did  not  die  for  them." 
This  was  the  argument  of  Father  Lecazre,  and  many 
others  who  took  their  cue  from  him. 
Galileo  was  denounced  as  "atheist"  and  "infidel" — 
epithets  that  do  not  frighten  us  much  now,  since  they 
have  been  applied  to  most  of  the  really  great  and  good 
men  who  have  ever  lived.  But  then  such  words  set 
fire  to  masses  of  inflammable  prejudices,  and  there 
were  conflagrations  of  wrath  and  hate  against  which 
it  were  vain  to  argue. 

The  Archbishop  of  Pisa  especially  felt  it  incumbent 
upon  him  "to  bring  Galileo  to  justice."  Galileo  was 
born  at  Pisa,  educated  there,  taught  in  the  University ; 
and  now  he  had  disgraced  the  place  and  brought  it  into 
disrepute  &  J> 

Galileo  was  still  in  communication  with  teachers  at 
54 


Pisa,  and  the  Archbishop  made  it  his  business  to  have      LITTLE 
letters  written  to  Galileo  asking  certain  specific  ques-     JOURNEYS 
tions.  One  man,  Castelli,  declined  to  be  used  for  the 
purpose  of  entrapping  Galileo,  but  others  there  were 
who  loaned  themselves  to  the  plan. 
In  1616,  Galileo  received  a  formal  summons  from  Pope 
Paul  V.  to  come  to  Rome  and  purge  himself  of  here- 
sies that  he  had  expressed  in  letters  which  were  then 
in  the  hands  of  the  Inquisition. 

Galileo  appealed  to  his  friends  at  Florence,  but  they 
were  powerless.  When  the  Pope  issued  an  order,  it 
could  not  be  waived. 

The  greatest  thinker  of  his  time  journeyed  to  Rome 
and  faced  the  greatest  theologian  of  his  day,  Cardinal 
Bellarmine.  The  Cardinal  firmly  and  clearly  showed 
Galileo  the  error  of  his  way. 

Galileo  offered  to  prove  for  the  Cardinal  by  astronom- 
ical observations  that  the  Copernican  Theory  was  true. 
Q  Cardinal  Bellarmine  said  that  there  was  only  one 
truth  and  that  was  spiritual  truth.  That  the  Bible  was 
true,  or  it  was  not.  If  not,  then  was  religion  a  fallacy 
and  our  hope  of  heaven  a  delusion. 
Galileo  contended  that  the  death  of  Christ  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  truth,  so  Science  and  these  things  should 
not  be  shuffled  and  confused. 

This  attitude  of  mind  greatly  shocked  the  Inquisitors, 
and  they  made  haste  to  inform  the  Pope,  who  at  once 
issued  an  order  that  the  astronomer  should  be  placed 
in  a  dungeon  until  he  saw  fit  to  disavow  that  the  sun 
was  the  center  of  the  universe,  and  the  earth  moves. 

55 


LITTLE     Q  A  sort  of  compromise,  it  seems,  was  here  effected  by 
JOURNEYS      Galileo's  promise  not  to  further  teach  that  the  earth 
revolves  «jt  & 

He  was  kept  at  Rome  under  surveillance  for  some 
months,  but  was  finally  allowed  to  return  to  Florence, 
and  cautioned  that  he  must  cease  all  public  teaching, 
speaking  and  writing  on  the  subject  of  astronomy. 
On  March  5,  1616,  the  consulting  theologians  of  the 
Holy  Office,  reiterated  that  the  two  propositions  of 
Galileo,  that  the  sun  is  the  center  of  the  universe, 
and  that  the  earth  has  a  rotary  motion,  were  "  absurd 
in  philosophy,  heretical  and  contrary  to  Scripture." 
Q  The  works  of  Copernicus  were  then  placed  upon  the 
Index,  and  Pope  Paul  issued  a  special  decree,  warn- 
ing all  Churchmen  to  "  abjure,  shun  and  forever  ab- 
stain from  giving  encouragement,  support,  succor  or 
friendship  to  any  one  who  believed  or  taught  that  the 
earth  revolves." 

The  name  of  Copernicus  was  not  removed  from  the 
Index  until  the  year  1818. 

^Li 

[ALILEO  made  his  way  back  to  Florence, 
a  defeated  and  disappointed  man.  He  had 
not  been  tortured  excepting  mentally,  but 
he  had  heard  the  dungeon  key  turned  in 
the  lock  and  felt  the  humiliation  of  being 
a  captive.  The  instruments  of  torture  had 
been  shown  him  and  he  had  heard  the  cries  of  the  con- 
demned jft>  jt 
56 


The  cell  that  Bruno  had  occupied  was  his  and  he  was 
also  taken  to  the  spot  where  Bruno  was  burned — the 
place  was  there,  but  where  was  Bruno ! 
He  realized  how  utterly  impossible  it  was  to  teach 
truth  to  those  who  did  not  desire  truth,  and  the  vanity 
of  replying  to  men  for  whom  a  pun  answered  the  pur- 
poses of  fact. 

As  he  could  neither  teach  nor  lecture  at  Florence,  his 
services  to  the  court  were  valueless.  He  was  a  dis- 
graced and  silenced  man. 

He  retired  to  a  village  a  few  miles  from  the  city,  and 
in  secret  continued  his  studies  and  observations. 
The  Grand-Duke  supplied  him  a  small  pension  and 
suggested  that  it  would  be  increased  if  Galileo  would 
give  lectures  on  Poetry  and  Rhetoric,  which  were  not 
forbidden  themes,  and  try  to  make  himself  either  com- 
monplace or  amusing. 

We  can  imagine  the  reply — Galileo  had  but  one  theme, 
the  wonders  of  the  heavens. 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


O  the  years  went  by,  and  Galileo  was  sixty- 
seven  years  old,  impoverished  &  forgotten, 
yet  in  his  proud  heart  burned  the  embers  of 
ambition.  He  believed  in  himself;  he  be- 
lieved in  the  sacredness  of  his  mission. 
Pope  Paul  had  gone  on  his  long  journey, 
for  even  infallible  popes  die.  Cardinal  Barberini  had 
become  Pope  Urban  VIII.  Years  before  Galileo  and 
Barberini  had  taught  together  at  Padua,  and  when 

57 


LITTLE  Galileo  was  silenced,  a  long  letter  of  sympathy  had 
JOURNEYS  come  from  his  old  colleague  and  occasionally  since 
they  had  exchanged  friendly  letters. 
Galileo  thought  that  Urban  was  his  friend  and  he  knew 
that  Urban,  in  his  heart,  believed  in  the  Copernican 
Theory  Jt>  ^ 

Galileo  emerged  from  his  seclusion  and  began  teach- 
ing and  speaking  in  Florence.  He  also  fitted  up  an  ob- 
servatory and  invited  scholars  to  make  use  of  his  tele- 
scope «jt  ^ 

Father  Melchior  here  put  forth  a  general  denunciation, 
aimed  especially  at  Galileo,  without  mentioning  his 
name,  to  this  effect:  "The  opinion  of  the  earth's  mo- 
tion is,  of  all  heresies,  the  most  abominable,  the  most 
pernicious,  the  most  scandalous  :  the  immovability  of 
the  earth  is  thrice  sacred.  An  argument  against  the  ex- 
istence of  God  and  the  immortality  of  the  soul  would 
be  sooner  tolerated  than  the  idea  that  the  earth  moves." 
CJIn  reply  to  this  fusillade,  in  1632,  Galileo  put  forth 
his  book  entitled,"  The  Dialogue,"  which  was  intended 
to  place  the  ideas  of  Copernicus  in  popular  form. 
Galileo  had  endeavored  to  communicate  with  Urban, 
but  the  Pope  had  chosen  to  ignore  him — to  consider 
him  as  one  dead.  Galileo  misconstrued  the  silence, 
thinking  it  meant  that  he  could  do  and  say  what  he 
wished  and  that  there  would  be  no  interference. 
A  copy  of  Galileo's  book  reaching  the  Pope,  his  silence 
was  broken.  The  book  was  condemned  and  all  copies 
found  were  ordered  to  be  burned  by  the  hangman  in 
the  public  streets.  But  the  book  had  met  with  a  wide 
58 


sale  and  many  copies  had  been  carried  to  Germany,      LITTLE 
England  and  France,  and  in  these  countries  the  -work     JOURNEYS 
was  reprinted  and  sent  back  to  Italy. 
Urban   ordered  Galileo  to  present  himself  at  Rome 
forthwith.  A  score  of  years  had  passed  since  Galileo's 
former  visit — he  had  not  forgotten  it. 
He  wrote  to  the  Pope  apologizing  for  having  broken 
the  silence  imposed  upon  him  by  Pope  Paul ;  he  of- 
fered to  again  go  into  retirement ;  stated  that  he  was 
old,  infirm,  without  funds,  and  excused  himself  from 
obeying  the  order  to  go  to  Rome. 

It  was  in  vain  that  a  preventory  order  -was  now  issued 
and  sent  to  the  Papal  Nuncio  at  Florence.  This  was 
equivalent  to  an  arrest.  Galileo  must  go  to  Rome  and 
answer  for  having  broken  the  promises  he  had  made 
to  the  Inquisition.  If  he  would  not  go  willingly,  he 
should  go  in  chains. 

Arriving  at  Rome,  he  had  several  audiences  with  the 
Pope  who  argued  that  nothing  but  an  implicit  recan- 
tation would  now  answer. 

What  Barberini  had  believed  was  one  thing,  what  the 
Pope  must  do  was  another.  Galileo  should  recant  in 
order  to  keep  the  people  from  thinking  that  Pope  Urban 
would  allow  what  his  predecessors  would  not.  The 
matter  had  become  a  public  scandal. 
Galileo  tried  to  argue  the  question  and  asked  for  time 
to  consider  it.  An  order  was  issued  that  he  should  be 
imprisoned.  It  was  done. 

Galileo  asked  for  pens  and  paper  that  he  might  prepare 
his  defense.  These  were  refused  and  an  order  of  tor- 

59 


LITTLE  ture  was  issued.  It  was  not  a  trial,  defense  was  useless. 
JOURNEYS  Again  he  was  asked  to  recant — the  matter  was  all  writ- 
ten out — he  had  but  to  sign  his  name.  He  refused.  He 
was  brought  to  the  torture  chamber. 
Here  legend  and  fact  separate.  There  are  denials  from 
Churchmen  that  Galileo  was  so  much  as  imprisoned. 
One  writer  even  has  tried  to  show  that  Galileo  was  a 
guest  of  the  Pope  and  dined  daily  at  his  table.  The 
other  side  has  told  us  that  Galileo  was  thrust  into  a 
dungeon,  his  eyes  put  out  and  his  broken-down  old 
form  tortured  on  the  wheel. 

Recent  careful  researches  reveal  that  neither  side  told 
the  truth.  We  have  official  record  of  the  case  written 
out  at  the  time  for  the  Vatican  archives.  Galileo  was 
imprisoned  and  the  order  of  torture  issued,  but  it  was 
never  enforced.  Perhaps  it  was  not  the  intention  to  en- 
force it — it  may  have  been  only  a  "war  measure." 
Galileo  was  alternately  taken  from  dungeon  to  palace 
that  he  might  realize  which  course  was  best  for  him 
to  pursue :  oppose  the  Church  or  uphold  it.  Thus  we 
see  that  there  was  some  truth  in  the  statement  that 
"  he  dined  daily  with  the  Pope." 

That  the  man  was  subjected  to  much  indignity,  all  the 
world  now  knows.  The  official  records  are  in  the  Vat- 
ican and  the  attempt  to  conceal  them  longer  is  out  of 
the  question.  Wise  Churchmen  no  longer  deny  the 
blunders  of  the  past,  but  they  say  with  Cardinal  Satolli, 
"The  enemies  of  the  Church  have  been  o'er-zealous 
Churchmen." 

On  his   bended  knees,  Galileo,  a  man   of  three-score 
60 


and  ten,  broken  in  health,  with  spirit  crushed,  repeated      LITTLE 
after  a  priest  these  words  :  "  I,  Galileo  Galilei,  being     JOURNEYS 
in   my   seventieth   year,  a   prisoner  and  now  on   my 
knees   before  your  Eminences,  the  Cardinals   of  the 
Holy  See,  having  before  mine  eyes   the  Holy  Bible, 
which  I  touch  with  my  hands  and  kiss  with  my  lips, 
do  abjure,  curse  and  detest  the  error  and  heresy  of  the 
movement  of  the  earth." 

He  also  was  made  to  sign  the  recantation.  On  arising 
from  his  knees,  legend  declares  that  he  said,  "  Yet  the 
earth  does  move!"  It  is  hardly  probable  that  the 
words  reached  his  lips,  although  they  may  have  been 
in  his  mind.  But  we  must  remember  the  man's  heart 
was  broken  and  he  was  in  a  mental  condition  where 
nothing  really  mattered. 

To  complete  his  dishonor  all  of  his  writings  were 
placed  on  the  Index,  and  he  was  made  to  swear  that 
he  would  inform  the  Inquisition  of  any  man  whom  he 
should  hear  or  discover  supporting  the  heresy  of  the 
motion  of  the  earth. 

The  old  man  was  then  released,  a  prisoner  on  parole, 
and  allowed  to  make  his  way  home  to  Florence,  which 
he  did  by  easy  stages,  helped  along  the  way  by  friendly 
monks  who  discussed  with  him  all  questions  but  those 
of  astronomy. 

Galileo's  eldest  daughter,  a  nun,  whose  home  was 
near  his,  was  so  affected  by  the  humiliation  of  her 
father  that  she  fell  into  a  nervous  decline  and  died 
very  soon  after  he  reached  home.  Between  these  two 
there  had  been  a  close  bond  of  love  and  tender  sym- 

61 


LITTLE      pathy   and   her   death   seemed  almost   the   crowning 
JOURNEYS     calamity  .*  * 

But  once  back  to  his  village  home  at  Arcetri,  Galileo 
again  went  to  work  with  his  telescope,  mapping  the 
heavens.  A  goodly  degree  of  health  and  animation 
came  back  to  him,  but  his  eyesight,  so  long  misused, 
now  failed  him  and  he  became  blind.  Thus  Milton 
found  him  in  1638.  Castelli,  his  lifelong  friend,  wrote  to 
another,  "  The  noblest  eye  that  God  ever  made  is  dark- 
ened: the  eye  so  privileged  that  it  may  in  truth  be 
said  to  have  seen  more  wonderful  things  and  made 
others  to  see  more  wonderful  things,  than  were  ever 
seen  before/'  But  blindness  could  not  subdue  him  any 
more  than  it  could  John  Milton.  He  had  others  look 
through  the  telescope  and  tell  him  what  they  saw  and 
then  he  would  foretell  what  they  would  see  next. 
The  policy  of  the  Pope  was  that  Galileo  should  not  be 
disturbed  so  long  as  he  kept  to  his  village  home  and 
taught  merely  the  few  scholars  or  "  servants,"  as  they 
called  themselves,  who  came  to  him,  but  these  were 
to  be  taught  mathematics  and  not  astronomy.  That  he 
was  even  at  the  last  under  suspicion  is  shown  that 
concealed  in  the  mattress  of  the  bed  upon  which  he 
died  -were  records  of  his  latest  discoveries  concerning 
the  revolution  of  the  planets.  Legal  opposition  was 
made  as  to  his  right  to  make  a  will,  the  claim  being 
that  he  was  a  prisoner  of  the  Inquisition  at  his  death. 
For  the  same  reason  his  body  was  not  allowed  to  be 
buried  in  consecrated  ground.  The  Pope  overruled  the 
objection  and  he  was  buried  in  an  obscure  corner  of 
62 


the  little  cemetery  of  St.  Croce,  the  grave  unmarked. 
CJSo  the  last  few  years  of  Galileo's  life  were  years  of 
comparative  peace  and  quiet.  He  needed  but  little  and 
this  little  his  few  faithful,  loving  friends  supplied.  His 
death  came  painlessly  and  his  last  moments  were  sus- 
tained by  the  faith  that  he  would  soon  be  free  from  the 
trammels  of  the  flesh  and  visit  some  of  the  worlds  his 
telescope  had  brought  so  near. 

Galileo  was  born  the  day  that  Michael  Angelo  died ; 
the  year  of  his  death  was  the  year  that  Sir  Isaac 
Newton,  discoverer  of  the  law  of  gravity,  was  born. 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


63 


HERE  ENDETH  THE  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  THE  HOME 
OF  GALILEO,  AS  WRITTEN  BY  ELBERT  HUBBARD. 
THE  BORDERS,  INITIALS  AND  ORNAMENTS  DESIGNED 
BY  ROYCROFT  ARTISTS,  THE  PRESSWORK  BY  LOUIS 
SCHELL,  &  THE  WHOLE  DONE  INTO  A  BOOK  BY  THE 
ROYCROFTERS  AT  THEIR  SHOP  WHICH  IS  IN  EAST 
AURORA,  NEW  YORK,  IN  FEBRUARY  OF  THE  YEAR  MCMV 


The  Bread  They  Eat 
At  The  Phalansterie 


'HE  Roy  crofters  make  their  bread 
with  a  mixing  machine,  invented  by 
Mr.  Charles  Cristadoro  of  St.  Paul, 
Minnesota  ^  ^  £•  It  is  called  the 
WHIRLPOOL  MIXING  AND 
KNEADING  MACHINE  ^fc^ 
This  machine  makes  better  bread  than  can  be 
made  by  hand,  and  is  a  move  for  cleanliness  and 
hygiene  not  to  be  overlooked.  In  bread  kneaded 
by  hand  you  get  more  or  less  of  the  good  old  can- 
nibal article,  since  the  human  body  is  constantly 
throwing  off  dead  matter. 

The  machine  mixes  a  24-lb.  sack  of  flour  at  a  time 
and  is  superlatively  adapted  to  the  needs  of  hotels 
where  they  make  their  own  bread  and  rolls.  You 
put  in  your  flour,  water,  yeast,  etc.,  press  the 
button  and  in  ten  minutes  the  machine  presents 
you  the  dough  as  white  as  milk  and  as  smooth 
and  soft  as  silk.  Mr.  Cristadoro's  company,  the 
Whirlpool  zMixer  &  Kneader  Company  of  St.  Paul, 
Minnesota,  also  makes  machines  that  will  turn  out 
dough  for  1200  to  1500  loaves  of  bread  in  twenty 
minutes,  but  that  's  another  story  &  &  &  Jk  ^ 


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vol.  xvi  .      MARCH,  1905 


No.  3 


fttle 


Co  flomes  of  <§reat  Scientists 

By    EL8ERT    H  U  S  S  Jf  R  D 


NEWTON 


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FAILING    EYESIGHT 

Caused  by  Improper  Food. 


Writers  who  live  sedentary  lives  and  who  use  coffee  are  apt  to  be 
troubled  by  faulty  vision,  which  they  usually  attribute  to  overwork. 
That  they  are  sometimes  mistaken  is  proved  by  the  following  statement 
from  an  old  newspaper  man : 

"For  nearly  40  years  I  have  earned  my  living  with  the  pen.  A  few 
years  ago  I  began  to  suffer  from  occasional  '  blind  spells.'  My  vision  fre- 
quently became  obscured  by  what  may  be  called  kaleidoscopic  blurs,  in 
which  constantly  changing  figures  like  wheels,  stars,  etc.,  floated  before 
my  eyes,  making  it  impossible  for  me  to  work  while  they  lasted.  They 
were  usually  followed  by  dull,  heavy  headaches. 

"  My  physicans,  two  of  them,  advised  me  that  my  eyes  had  become 
weakened  by  overwork.  I  consulted  an  oculist,  but  he  could  not  dis- 
cover the  cause  of  the  trouble.  I  bought  stronger  glasses  but  they  did 
not  help  me. 

"Last  summer,  while  living  temporarily  in  a  boarding  house,  I  found 
the  very  weak  coffee  a  thing  to  complain  of,  till  suddenly  I  discovered 
that  my  *  blind  spells '  were  becoming  less  frequent.  I  then  satisfied  my- 
self by  experiments  that  it  was  coffee  that  was  deranging  my  optic 
nerves. 

"  A  friend  advised  me  to  try  Postum  coffee,  and  although  I  had  no 
faith  in  it,  I  began  to  use  it.  In  three  days'  time  the  '  blind  spells '  com- 
pletely ceased.  Going  back  to  the  old  coffee  the  '  blind  spells  '  returned. 
I  am  entirely  satisfied  that  coffee  was  the  cause  of  the  ailment,  and  that 
Postum  was  its  cure."  Name  given  by  Postum  Co.,  Battle  Creek,  Mich. 

There's  a  reason.  Coffee  is  a  narcotic  that  breaks  down  the  cells  in 
the  nerve  centres  and  unless  nature  succeeds  in  repairing  the  damage 
each  day,  disease  and  distress  follows  in  some  one  or  more  organs.  It 
may  be  eyes  in  one,  stomach  and  bowels  in  another,  heart  or  kidneys  in 
another  and  yet  each  effected  from  the  same  cause,  coffee.  The  sure  way 
to  certainly  know  is  to  quit  coffee  10  days  and  use  Postum.  If  the  disease 
begins  to  disappear  you  have  the  key  to  your  puzzle. 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


HOMES 


T  O 

OF    GREAT 

SCIENTISTS 


WRITTEN  BY  ELBERT 
HUBBARD  AND  DONE 
INTO  BOOK  FORM  BY 
THE  ROYCROFTERS  AT 
THEIR  SHOP,  WHICH 
IS  IN  EAST  AURORA, 
NEW  YORK,  A.D.  MCMV 


SIR  ISAAC  NEWTON 


Sir    Isaac    Newton 


HEN  you  come  into  any  fresh  company,  observe  their  hu- 
mours. Suit  your  own  carriage  thereto,  by  which  insinu- 
'fation  you  will  make  their  converse  more  free  and  open. 
Let  your  discours  be  more  in  querys  and  doublings  than  peremp- 
tory assertions  or  disputings,  it  being  the  designe  of  travelers  to 
learne,  not  to  teach.  Besides,  it  will  persuade  your  acquaintance  that 
you  have  the  greater  esteem  of  them,  and  soe  make  them  more 
ready  to  communicate  what  they  know  to  you ;  whereas  nothing 
sooner  occasions  disrespect  and  quarrels  than  peremptorinesse.  You 
will  find  little  or  no  advantage  in  seeming  wiser,  or  much  more 
ignorant  than  your  company.  Seldom  discommend  any  thing  though 
never  so  bad,  or  doe  it  but  moderately,  lest  you  bee  unexpectedly 
forced  to  an  unhansom  retraction.  It  is  safer  to  commend  any  thing 
more  than  is  due,  than  to  discommend  a  thing  soe  much  as  it  de- 
serves ;  for  commendations  meet  not  soe  often  with  oppositions,  or, 
at  least,  are  not  usually  soe  ill  resented  by  men  that  think  otherwise, 
as  discommendations ;  and  you  will  insinuate  into  men's  favour  by 
nothing  sooner  than  seeming  to  approve  and  commend  what  they 
like ;  but  beware  of  doing  it  by  a  comparison. 

SIR  ISAAC  NEWTON  to  one  of  his  pupils. 


SIR  ISAAC  NEWTON 

N  honest  farmer,  neither  rich  nor  poor, 
was  Isaac  Newton.  He  was  married  to 
Harriet  Ayscough  in  February,  1642. 
Both  were  strong,  intelligent  and  full  of 
hope.  Neither  had  any  education  to  speak 
of — they  belonged  to  England's  middle 
class — that  oft  despised  and  much  ridi- 
culed middle  class  which  is  the  hope  of 
the  world.  Accounts  still  in  existence 
show  that  their  income  was  thirty  pounds 
a  year.  It  was  for  them  to  toil  all  the 
week,  go  to  church  on  Sunday,  and  twice 
or  thrice  in  a  year  attend  the  village  fairs 
or  indulge  in  a  holiday  where  hard  cider 
played  an  important  part. 
Isaac  had  served  his  two  years  in  the 
army,  taken  a  turn  at  the  sea,  and  got  his 
discharge  papers.  Now  he  had  married 
the  lass  of  his  choice,  and  settled  down  in 
the  little  house  on  an  estate  in  Lincoln- 
shire where  his  father  was  born  and  died. 
Q  Spring  came,  and  the  roses  clambered 
over  the  stone  walls;  bobolinks  played 
hide  and  seek  in  the  waving  grass  of  the 
meadows ;  the  skylarks  sang  and  poised 
and  soared;  the  hedge-rows  grew  white 
with  hawthorne  blossoms  and  musical 
with  the  chirp  of  sparrows ;  the  cattle 

65 


LITTLE  ranged  through  the  fragrant  clover  "knee  deep  in  June." 
JOURNEYS  Q  Oftentimes  the  young  wife  worked  with  her  husband 
in  the  fields,  or  went  with  him  to  market.  Great  plans 
were  laid  as  to  what  they  would  do  next  year,  and  the 
year  after,  and  how  they  'would  provide  for  coming  age 
and  grow  old  together,  here  among  the  oaks  and  the 
peace  and  plenty  of  Lincolnshire. 

In  such  a  country,  with  such  a  climate,  it  seems  as  if 
one  could  almost  make  repair  equal  waste,  and  thus 
keep  death  indefinitely  at  bay.  But  all  men,  even  the 
strongest,  are  living  under  a  death  sentence  with  but 
an  indefinite  reprieve.  And  even  yet,  with  all  of  our 
science  and  health  we  cannot  fully  account  for  those 
diseases  which  seemingly  pick  the  very  best  flower  of 
sinew  and  strength. 

Isaac  Newton,  the  strong  and  rugged  farmer  sickened 
and  died  in  a  week.  "  The  result  of  a  cold  caught  when 
sweaty  and  standing  in  a  draft,"  the  surgeon  explained. 
"The  act  of  God  to  warn  us  all  of  the  vanity  of  life." 
Acute  pneumonia,  perhaps  is  what  we  would  call  it — 
a  fever  that  burned  out  the  bellows  in  a  week.  In  such 
cases  the  very  strength  of  the  man  seems  to  supply 
fuel  for  the  flames. 

And  so  just  as  the  autumn  came  with  changing  leaves, 
the  young  wife  was  left  to  fight  the  battle  of  life  alone ; 
alone  save  for  the  old,  old  miracle  that  her  life  sup- 
ported another. 

A  wife,  a  widow,  a  mother — all  within  a  year ! 
On  Christmas  day  the  babe  was   born — born   where 
most  men  die :  in  obscurity.  He  was  so  weak  and  frail 
66 


that  none  but  the  mother  believed  he  'would  live.  The 
doctor  quoted  a  line  from  Richard  III.,  "  Sent  before 
my  time  into  this  breathing  world  scarce  half  made 
up,"  and  gave  the  infant  into  the  keeping  of  an  old 
nurse  with  an  ominous  shake  of  the  head,  and  went 
his  way,  absolved.  His  time  was  too  valuable  to  waste 
on  such  a  useless  human  mite. 

The  persistent  words  of  the  mother  that  the  child 
should  not — must  not  die — possibly  had  something  to 
do  with  keeping  the  breath  of  life  in  the  puny  man- 
child.  The  fond  mother  had  given  him  the  name  of  his 
father,  even  before  birth  !  He  was  to  live  to  do  the  'work 
that  the  man  now  dead  had  hoped  to  do,  that  is,  live 
a  long  and  honest  life,  and  leave  the  fair  acres  more 
valuable  than  he  found  them. 

And  such  was  the  inauspicious  beginning  of  what 
Herbert  Spencer  declared  was  the  greatest  life  since, 
three  hundred  years  before  Christ,  Aristotle  studied 
the  stars  and  made  wise  guesses  into  the  secrets  of 
nature. 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


'UTSIDE  of  India  the  lot  of  widowhood 
is  not  especially  to  be  pitied.  A  widow 
has  beautiful  dreams,  while  the  married 
woman  copes  with  a  stern  reality.  Then, 
no  phase  of  life  is  really  difficult  when  you 
accept  it ;  and  the  memory  of  a  great  love 
lost  is  always  a  blessing  and  a  benediction  to  the  one 
who  endures  the  first  cruel  shock. 

67 


LITTLE  The  young  widow  looked  after  her  little  estate,  and 
JOURNEYS  with  perhaps  some  small  assistance  from  her  parents, 
lived  comfortably  and  as  happily  as  one  has  right  to 
in  this  vale  of  tears.  Her  baby  boy  had  grown  strong 
and  well :  by  the  time  he  was  two  years  old  he  was 
quite  the  equal  of  most  babies,  and  his  mother  thought, 
beyond  them. 

It  is  often  stoutly  declared  by  callow  folks  that  mother- 
love  is  the  strongest  and  most  enduring  love  in  the 
world,  but  the  wise  waste  no  words  on  such  an  idle 
proposition.  Mother-love  retires  into  the  shadow  when 
the  other  kind  appears. 

When  the  Rev.  Barnabas  Smith  began,  unconsciously, 
to  make  eyes  at  the  Widow  Newton  over  his  prayer- 
book,  the  good  old  dames  whose  business  it  is  to  look 
after  these  things,  and  perform  them  vicariously,  made 
prophecies  on  the  way  home  from  church  as  to  how 
soon  the  wedding  would  occur.  People  go  to  church  to 
'watch  and  pray,  but  a  man  I  know  says  that  women 
go  to  church  to  watch.  Young  clergymen  fall  an  easy 
prey  to  designing  widows,  he  avers.  I  can  discover  no 
proof,  however,  that  the  Widow  Newton  made  any 
original  designs — she  was  below  the  clergyman  in  so- 
cial standing,  and  when  the  good  man  began  to  pay 
special  attentions  to  her  baby  boy  she  never  imagined 
that  the  sundry  pats  and  caresses  were  meant  for  her. 
Q  Little  Isaac  Newton  was  just  three  years  old  when 
the  wedding  occurred,  and  was  not  troubled  about  it. 
The  bride  went  to  live  with  her  husband  at  the  rectory, 
a  mile  away,  and  the  little  boy  in  dresses,  with  long 
68 


yellow   curls,  was   faken  to   the  home  of  his  grand-      LITTLE 
mother.  The  Rev.  Barnabas  Smith  didn't  like  babies     JOURNEYS 
as  well  as  he  at  first  thought. 

Grandparents  are  inclined  to  be  lax  in  their  discipline. 
And  anyway  it  is  no  particular  difference  if  they  are — 
a  scarcity  of  discipline  is  better  than  too  much.  More 
boys  have  been  ruined  by  the  rod  than  saved  by  it — 
love  is  a  good  substitute  for  a  cat-o'-nine-tails. 
There  were  several  children  born  to  the  Rev.  Barnabas 
Smith  and  his  wife  and  all  were  disciplined  for  their 
own  good.  Isaac,  a  few  miles  away,  snuggled  in  the 
arms  of  his  ol'  grandmother  when  he  was  bad  and 
went  scot  free. 

Many  years  after,  Sir  Isaac  Newton  in  an  address  on 
education  at  Cambridge  playfully  referred  to  the  fact 
that  in  his  boyhood  he  did  not  have  to  prevaricate  to 
escape  punishment,  his  grandmother  being  always  will- 
ing to  lie  for  him.  His  grandmother  was  his  first  teacher 
and  his  best  friend  as  long  as  she  lived. 
When  he  was  twelve  years  old  he  was  sent  to  the  vil- 
lage school  at  Grantham,  eight  miles  away.  There  he 
boarded  with  a  family  by  the  name  of  Clark,  and  at 
odd  times  helped  in  the  apothecary  shop  of  Mr.  Clark, 
cleaning  bottles  and  making  pills.  He  himself  has  told 
us  that  the  working  with  mortar  and  pestle,  cutting 
the  pills  in  exact  cubes,  and  then  rolling  one  in  each 
hand  between  thumb  and  finger,  did  him  a  lot  of  good 
whether  the  patients  were  benefited  or  not.  The  genial 
apothecary  also  explained  that  pills  were  for  those  who 
made  and  sold  them,  and  that  if  they  did  no  harm  to 

69 


LITTLE     those  who  swallowed   them,   the   whole  transaction 
JOURNEYS     was  then  one  of  benefit.  All  of  which  proves  to  us  that 
men  had  the  essence  of  wisdom  two  hundred  years 
ago  quite  as  much  as  now. 

The  master  of  the  school  at  Grantham  was  one  Mr. 
Stokes,  a  man  of  genuine  insight  and  tact — two  things 
rather  rare  in  the  pedagogic  equipment  at  that  time. 
The  Newton  boy  was  small  and  stood  low  in  his  class, 
perhaps  because  book-learning  had  not  been  the  bent 
of  his  grandmother.  The  fact  that  Isaac  was  neither 
strong  nor  smart  nor  even  smartly  dressed,  caused  him 
to  serve  in  the  capacity  of  a  butt  for  the  bullies. 
One  big  boy  in  particular  made  it  his  business  to  punch, 
kick  and  cuff  him  on  all  occasions  in  class  or  out.  This 
continued  for  a  month,  when  one  day  the  little  boy  in- 
vited the  big  one  out  into  the  church-yard  and  there 
fell  upon  him  tooth  and  claw.  The  big  boy  had  strength, 
but  the  little  one  had  right  on  his  side. 
The  schoolmaster  looked  over  the  wall  and  shouted, 
"Thrice  armed  is  he  who  knows  his  cause  is  just! " 
In  two  minutes  the  bully  was  beaten,  but  the  school- 
master's son  who  stood  by  as  master  of  ceremonies, 
suggested  that  the  big  boy  have  his  nose  rubbed  against 
the  wall  of  the  church  for  luck.  This  was  accordingly 
done,  not  o'er  gently,  and  when  Isaac  returned  to  the 
schoolroom,  the  master,  who  was  supposed  to  know 
nothing  officially  of  the  fighting,  prophesied,  "  Young 
Mr.  Newton  will  yet  beat  any  boy  in  this  school  in  his 
studies." 

It  has  been  suggested  that  this  prophecy  was  made 
70 


after  its  fulfillment,  but  even  so,  we  know  that   Mr.      LITTLE 

Stokes  lived  long  enough  to  take  great  pride  in  the     JOURNEYS 

Newton  boy,  and  to  grow  reminiscent  concerning  his 

achievement. 

Our  hearts  go  out  to  the  late  Mr.  Stokes,  schoolmaster 

at  Grantham. 


'HERE  is  surely  something  in  that  old  idea 
of  Indians  that  when  they  killed  an  enemy 
the  strength  of  the  fallen  adversary  en- 
tered into  themselves. 
This  encounter  of  little  Isaac  with  the 
school  bully  was  a  pivotal  point  in  his  ca- 
reer. He  had  vanquished  the  rogue  physically  and 
he  now  set  to  work  to  do  as  much  mentally  for  the 
whole  school.  He  had  it  in  him — it  was  just  a  matter 
of  application. 

Once  in  after  life  in  speaking  of  those  who  had  bene- 
fited him  most,  he  placed  this  unnamed  chucklehead 
first,  and  added  with  a  smile,  "  Our  enemies  are  quite 
as  necessary  to  us  as  our  friends." 
In  a  few  months  Isaac  stood  at  the  head  of  the  class. 
In  mathematics  he  especially  excelled,  and  the  Master, 
who  prided  himself  on  being  able  to  give  problems  no 
one  could  solve  but  himself,  found  he  was  put  to  the 
strait  of  giving  a  problem  nobody  could  solve.  He  was 
somewhat  taken  aback  when  little  Isaac  declined  to 
work  on  it,  and  coolly  pointed  out  the  fallacy  involved. 
The  only  thing  then  for  the  teacher  to  do  was  to  say 

71 


LITTLE     he  had  purposely  given  the  proposition  to  see  if  any 

JOURNEYS     one  would  detect  the  fallacy.  This  he  gracefully  did, 

and  again  made  a  prophecy  to  the  effect  that  Isaac 

Newton  would  some  day  take  his  own  place  and  be 

the  master  of  Grantham  School. 

In  the  year  1656  the  school-days  of  Isaac  Newton  were 
cut  short  by  the  death  of  his  stepfather. 
His  mother,  twice  a  widow,  moved  back  to  "  Wools- 
thorpe,"  a  big  name  for  a  very  small  estate.  Isaac  was 
made  the  man  of  the  house.  The  ambition  of  his  mother 
was  that  he  should  become  a  farmer  and  a  stock-raiser. 
Q  It  seems  that  the  boy  entered  upon  his  farm  duties 
with  an  alacrity  that  was  not  to  last.  His  heart  was 
not  in  the  work,  but  the  desire  to  please  his  mother 
spurred  him  forward. 

On  one  occasion,  being  sent  to  Grantham  with  a  load 
of  produce,  he  stopped  in  to  visit  his  old  school,  and 
during  his  call  struck  a  bargain  with  one  of  the  boys 
for  a  copy  of  Descartes'  Geometry.  The  purchase  so 
exhausted  his  finances  that  he  was  unable  to  buy  the 
articles  his  mother  had  sent  him  for,  but  when  he  got 
home  he  explained  that  one  might  get  along  without 
such  luxuries  as  clothing  but  a  good  Geometry  was  a 
family  necessity. 

About  this  time  he  made  a  water  clock,  and  also  that 
sun-dial  which  can  be  seen  today,  carved  into  the  stone 
on  the  corner  of  the  house.  He  continued  his  making  of 
kites  which  had  been  begun  at  Grantham ;  and  gave 
the  superstitious  neighbors  a  thrill  by  flying  kites  at 
night  with  lighted  lanterns  made  from  paper,  attached 
72 


to  the  tails.  He  made  water-wheels  and  windmills,  LITTLE 
and  once  constructed  a  miniature  mill  that  he  ran  by  JOURNEYS 
placing  a  mouse  on  a  treadmill  inside. 
In  the  meantime  the  cows  got  into  the  corn,  and  the 
weeds  in  the  garden  improved  each  shining  hour.  The 
fond  mother  was  sorely  disappointed  in  her  boy,  and 
made  remarks  to  the  effect  that  if  she  had  looked  after 
his  bringing  up  instead  of  entrusting  him  to  an  indul- 
gent grandmother,  affairs  would  not  be  in  their  present 
state.  Parents  are  apt  to  be  fussy — they  cannot  wait. 
Q  Matters  reached  a  climax  when  the  sheep,  that  Isaac 
had  been  set  to  watch,  overran  the  garden  and  demol- 
ished everything  but  the  purslane  &  ragweed,  while  all 
the  time  the  young  man  was  under  the  hedge  work- 
ing out  mathematical  problems  from  his  Descartes. 
Q  At  this  stage  the  good  mother  called  in  her  brother, 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Ayscough,  and  he  advised  that  a  boy 
who  was  so  bound  to  study  should  be  allowed  to  study. 
And  the  good  rector  offered  to  pay  the  wages  of  a  man 
to  take  Isaac's  place  on  the  farm. 

So,  greatly  to  the  surprise  and  pleasure  of  Mr.  Stokes 
of  Grantham,  Isaac  one  fine  day  returned  with  his 
books,  just  as  if  he  had  only  been  gone  a  day  instead 
of  a  year. 

At  the  home  of  the  apothecary  the  lad  was  thrice  wel- 
come. He  had  endeared  himself  to  the  women  of  the 
household  especially.  He  did  not  play  with  other  boys 
— their  games  and  sports  were  absolutely  outside  of 
his  orbit.  He  was  silent  and  so  self-contained  that  he 
won  from  his  school-fellows  the  sobriquet  of  "  Old 

73 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


Cold-feet."  Nothing  surprised  him ;  he  never  lost  his 
temper;  he  laughed  so  seldom  that  the  incident  was 
noted  and  told  to  the  neighbors ;  his  attitude  was  one 
of  abstraction,  and  when  he  spoke  it  was  like  a  judge 
charging  a  jury  with  soda-water. 

All  of  his  spare  time  was  given  up  to  whittling,  sawing, 
pounding  and  making  mathematical  calculations. 
Not  all  of  his  inventions  were  toys,  for  among  other 
things  he  constructed  a  horseless  carriage  which  was 
run  by  a  crank  and  pumping  device,  by  the  occupants. 
The  idea  of  the  horseless  carriage  is  a  matter  that  has 
long  been  in  the  minds  of  inventors.  Several  men,  su- 
premely great,  have  tried  their  hands  and  head  at  it. 
Leibnitz  worked  at  it ;  Swedenborg  prophesied  the  auto- 
mobile, and  made  a  carriage,  placing  the  horse  inside, 
and  did  not  give  up  the  scheme  until  the  horse  ran 
away  with  himself  and  demolished  the  result  of  a  year's 
work.  The  government  here  interfered  and  placed  an 
injunction  against  "the  making  of  any  more  such  di- 
abolical contrivances  for  the  disturbance  of  the  public 
peace."  All  of  which  makes  us  believe  that  if  Edison 
and  Marconi  had  lived  two  hundred  years  ago,  the 
bailiffs  would  have  looked  after  them  with  the  butt 
end  of  the  law  for  the  regulation  of  wizards  &  witches ; 
wizards  at  Menlo  Park  being  quite  as  bad  as  witches 
at  Salem. 

Isaac  Newton's  horseless  carriage  came  to  grief  in  a 
similar  way  to  Swedenborg' s  invention — it  worked  so 
well  and  so  fast  that  it  turned  a  complete  somersault 
into  a  ditch,  and  its  manipulation  was  declared  a  pas- 
74 


time  more  dangerous  than  football.  Q  Not  all  the  things 
produced  by  Isaac  about  this  time  were  failures.  For 
instance,  among  other  things  he  made  a  table,  a  chair 
and  a  cupboard  for  a  young  woman  who  was  a  fellow- 
boarder  at  the  apothecary's.  The  excellence  of  young 
Newton's  work  was  shown  in  that  the  articles  just 
mentioned  outlasted  both  the  owner  and  maker. 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


»UCH  of  the  reminiscence  concerning  the 
Grantham  days  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  comes 
to  us  from  the  fortunate  owner  of  that  his- 
toric table,  chair  and  cupboard.  This  was 
Mary  Story,  afterward  Mrs.  Vincent.  Miss 
Story  was  the  same  age  as  Isaac.  She  was 
eighteen  when  the  furniture  was  made  roycroftie — she 
was  a  young  lady,  grown,  and  wore  a  dress  with  a 
train;  moreover,  she  had  been  to  London  and  had  been 
courted  by  a  widower,  while  Isaac  Newton  was  only 
a  lad  in  round-abouts. 

Age  counts  for  little — it  is  experience  and  temperament 
that  weigh  in  the  scale.  Isaac  was  only  a  little  boy, 
and  Mary  Story  treated  him  like  one.  And  here  seems 
a  good  place  to  quote  Dr.  Charcot  who  said,  "  In  ar- 
ranging the  formula  for  a  great  man,  make  sure  you  de- 
lay adolescence — rare-ripes  rot  early." 
Isaac  and  Mary  became  very  good  chums,  and  used 
to  ramble  the  woods  together  hand  in  hand,  in  a  way 
that  must  have  frightened  them  both  had  they  been  on 
the  same  psychic  plane.  Isaac  had  about  the  same  re- 

75 


LITTLE  gard  for  her  that  he  might  have  had  for  a  dear  maiden 
JOURNEYS  aunt  -who  would  mend  his  socks  and  listen  patiently, 
pretending  to  be  interested  when  he  talked  of  parallelo- 
grams and  prismatic  spectra.  But  evidently  Mary  Story 
thought  of  him  with  a  thrill  for  she  stoutly  resented 
the  boys  calling  him  "  Cold-feet." 
In  due  time  Isaac  gravitated  on  to  Cambridge. 
Mary  mooed  a  wee,  but  soon  consoled  herself  with  a 
sure-enough  lover,  and  was  married  to  Mr.  Vincent,  a 
worthy  man  and  true,  but  one  who  had  not  sufficient 
soul-caloric  to  make  her  forget  her  Isaac. 
This  friendship  with  Mary  Story  is  often  spoken  of  as 
the  one  love  affair  in  the  life  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton.  It 
was  all  prosily  platonic  on  his  part,  but  as  Mary  lived 
out  her  life  at  Grantham,  and  Sir  Isaac  Newton  used 
to  go  there  occasionally,  and  when  he  did,  always 
called  upon  her,  the  relationship  was  certainly  note- 
worthy Jt>  jt 

The  only  break  in  that  lifelong  friendship  occurred 
when  each  was  past  fifty.  Sir  Isaac  was  paying  his 
little  yearly  call  at  Grantham  ;  and  was  seated  in  a  rus- 
tic arbor  by  the  side  of  Mrs.  Vincent,  now  grown  gray, 
and  the  mother  of  a  goodly  brood,  well  grown  up.  As 
they  thus  sat  talking  of  days  agone,  his  thoughts  ran 
off  upon  quadratic  equations,  and  to  aid  his  mind  in 
following  the  thread,  he  absent-mindedly  lighted  his 
pipe,  and  smoked  in  silence.  As  the  tobacco  died  low, 
he  gazed  about  for  a  convenient  utensil  to  use  in  push- 
ing the  ashes  down  in  the  bowl  of  his  pipe.  Looking 
down  he  saw  the  lady's  hand  resting  upon  his  knee, 
76 


and  straightway  utilized  the  forefinger  of  his  vis-a-vis.     LITTLE 
A  suppressed  feminine  screech  followed,  but  the  fires     JOURNEYS 
of  friendship  were  not  quenched  by  so  slight  an  inci- 
dent, which  Mrs.  Vincent  well  knew  grew  out  of  tem- 
perament and  not  from  wrong  intent. 
She  lived  to  be  eighty-five,  and  to  the  day  of  her  death 
caressed  the  scar — the  cicatrice  of  a  love  wound.  All 
of  which  seems  to  prove  that  old  women  can  be  quite 
as  absurd  as  young  ones — goodness  me ! 


[HEN  Isaac  was  eighteen,  Master  Stokes 
was  so  impressed  by  his  star  scholar  that 
he  called  in  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ayscough  and 
insisted  that  the  boy  be  sent  to  Cambridge. 
The  uncle  being  a  Cambridge  man  him- 
self, thought  this  the  proper  thing  to  do. 
Q  On  June  5th,  1661,  Isaac  presented  his  credentials 
from  his  uncle  and  Mr.  Stokes,  and  was  duly  entered  to 
Trinity  College  as  a  subsizar,  which  means  that  he 
was  admitted  on  suspicion.  A  part  of  the  duties  of  a 
subsizar  was  to  clean  boots,  scrub  floors  and  perform 
various  other  delightful  tasks  which  everybody  else 
evaded  Jt,  ^ 

To  be  at  Trinity  College  in  any  capacity  was  paradise 
for  this  boy.  He  thirsted  for  knowledge — to  know,  to 
do,  to  perform — these  things  were  his  desire.  He  had 
been  brought  up  to  work,  anyway,  and  to  a  country  boy 
toil  is  no  punishment.  "  I  knew  that  if  worse  came  to 
worst  I  could  get  employment  in  the  town  making  fur- 

77 


LITTLE  niture  and  earn  a  man's  wage,"  he  said.  Q  In  a  month 
JOURNEYS  he  had  passed  his  first  examinations  and  was  made  a 
sizar.  Before  this  he  had  been  fag  to  everybody,  but 
now  he  was  fag  to  the  seniors  only.  He  not  only  made 
their  beds  and  cleaned  their  rooms,  but  worked  their 
examples  in  mathematics,  and  thus  commanded  their 
respect  Jt,  jt> 

Once  in  class,  being  called  upon  to  recite  from  Euclid, 
he  declined  and  shocked  the  professor  by  saying,  "  It 
is  a  trifling  book — I  have  mastered  it  and  thrown  it 
aside."  And  it  was  no  idle  boast — he  knew  the  book  as 
the  professor  did  not.  When  he  arrived  at  Cambridge, 
he  carried  in  his  box  a  copy  of  Sanderson's  Logic  pre- 
sented to  him  by  his  uncle — the  uncle  having  no  use 
for  it.  It  happened  to  be  one  of  the  text-books  in  use  at 
Trinity.  When  Isaac  heard  lectures  on  Sanderson  he 
found  he  knew  the  book  a  deal  better  than  the  tutor,  a 
thing  the  tutor  shortly  acknowledged  before  the  class. 
QThis  caused  young  Mr.  Newton  to  stand  out  as  a 
prodigy.  Usually  students  have  to  rap  for  admittance 
to  the  higher  classes,  but  now  the  teachers  came  and 
sought  him  out.  One  professor  told  him  he  was  about 
to  take  up  Kepler's  Optics,  with  some  post-graduate 
students — would  young  Mr.  Newton  come  in?  Isaac 
begged  to  be  excused  until  he  could  examine  the  book. 
The  volume  was  loaned  to  him.  He  tore  the  vitals  out 
of  it  and  digested  them.  When  the  lectures  began  he 
declined  to  go  because  he  had  mastered  the  subject  as 
far  as  Kepler  carried  it. 

Genius  seems  to  consist  in  the  ability  to  concentrate 
78 


your  rays  and  focus  them  on  one  point.  Isaac  Newton      LITTLE 
could  do  it.  "  On  a  winter  day  I  took  a  small  glass  and     JOURNEYS 
so  centered  the  sun's  rays  that  I  burned  a  hole  in  my 
coat,"  he  wrote  in  his  subsizar  journal. 
The  youth  possessed  an  imperturbable  coolness — he 
talked  little,  but  when  he  spoke  it  was  very  frankly  and 
honestly.  From  any  other  his  words  would  have  had 
a  presumptuous  and  boastful  sound.  As  it  was  he  was 
respected   and  beloved.   At    Cambridge   his   face  and 
features  commended  him — he  looked  like  another  Cam- 
bridge man,  one  Milton — John  Milton — only  his  face 
was  a  little  more  stern  in  its  expression  than  that  of 
the  author  of  "  Paradise  Lost." 

In  two  years'  time  Isaac  Newton  was  a  scholar  whom 
all  Cambridge  knew.  He  had  prepared  able  essays  on 
the  squaring  of  curved  and  crooked  lines,  on  errors  in 
grinding  lenses  and  the  methods  of  rectifying  them, 
and  in  the  extraction  of  roots  where  the  cubes  were 
imperfect :  he  had  done  things  never  before  attempted 
by  his  teachers.  When  they  called  upon  him  to  recite, 
it  was  only  for  the  purpose  of  explaining  truths  which 
they  had  not  mastered. 

In  1664,  being  in  his  twenty-second  year,  Isaac  Newton 
was  voted  a  free  scholarship,  which  provided  for  board, 
books  and  tuition.  On  this  occasion  he  was  examined 
in  Euclid  by  Dr.  Barrow,  the  head  Master  of  Trinity. 
Q  Newton  could  solve  every  problem,  but  could  not 
explain  why  or  how.  His  methods  were  empirical—- 
those of  his  own.  Many  men  with  a  modicum  of  math- 
ematical genius  work  in  this  way  and  in  practical  life 

79 


LITTLE  the  plan  may  serve  all  right.  QBut  now  it  -was  shown 
JOURNEYS  to  Newton  that  a  school-man  must  not  only  know 
how  to  work  great  problems,  but  know  why  he  goes 
at  it  in  a  certain  way :  otherwise  colleges  are  vain — 
we  must  be  able  to  pass  our  knowledge  along.  The 
really  great  man  is  one  who  knows  the  rules  and  then 
forgets  them,  just  as  the  painter  of  supreme  merit 
must  be  a  realist  before  he  evolves  into  an  impressionist. 
CJ  Newton  now  acknowledged  his  mistake  in  reference 
to  Euclid,  and  set  to  work  to  master  the  rules.  This 
graciousness  in  accepting  advice,  and  the  willingness 
to  admit  his  lapse,  if  he  had  been  hasty,  won  for  him 
not  only  the  scholarship,  but  the  love  of  his  superiors. 
Milton  was  a  radical  who  made  enemies,  but  Newton 
was  a  radical  who  made  friends.  He  avoided  icono- 
clasm,  left  all  matters  of  theology  to  the  specialists, 
and  accepted  the  Church  as  a  necessary  part  of  society. 
His  care  not  to  offend  fixed  his  place  in  Cambridge  for 
life.  It  was  Cambridge  that  fostered  and  encouraged 
his  first  budding  experiments ;  it  was  there  he  was  sus- 
tained in  his  mightiest  hazards ;  and  it  was  within  her 
walls  that  the  ripe  fruit  of  his  genius  was  garnered  and 
gathered.  When  his  fame  had  become  national  and  he 
was  called  to  higher  offices  than  Cambridge  supplied, 
Cambridge  watched  his  career  with  the  loving  interest 
of  a  mother,  and  the  debt  of  love  he  fully  paid,  for  it 
was  through  his  name  and  fame  that  Cambridge  first 
took  her  place  as  one  of  the  great  schools  of  the  world. 


[EWTON  took  his  degree  of  Bachelor  of     LITTLE 
Arts  at  Cambridge  in  January,  1665.  The      JOURNEYS 
faculty  of  Trinity  would  not  even  consider 
his  leaving  the  college:  he  was  as  valu- 
able to  them  as  he  would  be  now  if  he 
were  a  famous  football  player.  Beside  the 
scholarship,  there  "were  ways  provided  so  he  could 
earn  money  by  private  tutoring  and  giving  lectures  in 
the  absence  of  professors. 

He  had  written  his  essay  on  fluxions,  described  their 
application  to  fluents  and  tangents,  and  devised  a  plan 
for  finding  the  radius  of  curvity  in  crooked  lines.  In 
August  of  the  same  year  that  Newton  was  given  his 
degree,  the  college  was  dismissed  on  account  of  an  epi- 
demic, and  Newton  went  home  to  Woolsthorpe  to  kill 
time.  In  September,  1665,  he  then  being  twenty-three, 
while  seated  in  his  mother's  garden,  he  saw  that  sto- 
ried apple  fall. 

What  pulled  it  down  ?  Some  force  tugging  at  it,  surely ! 
Q  Galileo  had  experimented  with  falling  bodies,  and 
had  proved  that  the  weight  and  size  of  a  falling  body 
had  nothing  to  do  with  its  velocity,  save  as  its  size  and 
shape  might  be  affected  by  the  friction  of  the  atmos- 
phere. The  first  person  to  put  in  print  the  story  of  the 
falling  apple  was  Voltaire,  whose  sketch  of  Newton 
is  a  little  classic  which  the  world  could  ill  afford  to  lose. 
Adam,  William  Tell  and  Isaac  Newton  each  had  his 
little  affair  with  an  apple,  but  with  different  results. 
QThe  falling  apple  suggested  to  Newton  that  there 
was  some  power  in  the  ground  that  was  constantly 

81 


LITTLE  pulling  things  toward  the  center  of  the  earth.  This 
JOURNEYS  power  extended  straight  down  into  the  earth — he  knew 
it — he  had  dropped  a  stone  into  a  mine,  and  had  also 
dropped  things  from  steeples.  He  dropped  apples  from 
kites  by  an  ingenious  device  of  two  strings,  and  he 
concluded  that  an  apple  taken  a  hundred  miles  up  in 
the  air  would  return  to  earth.  He  then  began  to  spec- 
ulate as  to  what  a  body  would  do  a  thousand  or  ten 
thousand  miles  from  the  earth.  So  as  high  as  we  could 
go,  or  as  deep  as  we  could  dig,  this  drawing  power 
was  always  present. 
The  Law  of  Gravitation ! 

If  a  cannon-ball  was  fired  in  a  straight  line  at  a  distant 
target,  the  gunner  had  to  elevate  the  aim,  if  he  would 
hit  the  target,  for  the  ball  described  a  curve  and  would 
keep  dropping  to  the  earth  until  it  actually  struck  the 
ground.  Something  was  pulling  it  down — what  was  it? 
Q  The  Law  of  Gravitation  ! 

The  moon  was  attracted  toward  us  and  would  surely 
fall  into  us,  but  for  the  fact  that  there  were  other  at- 
tractions drawing  her  toward  them.  The  movements 
of  the  planets  were  owing  to  the  fact  that  they  were 
obeying  attractions.  They  were  moving  in  curves,  just 
like  cannon-balls  in  motion.  They  had  two  movements, 
also,  like  the  cannon-ball. 

Newton  had  noticed  that  the  stars  within  a  certain  ter- 
ritory all  moved  in  similar  directions,  and  so  must  be 
acted  upon  by  the  same  influences. 
The  Law  of  Gravitation  !  It  is  held  by  many  people 
in  East  Aurora  and  elsewhere  that  Newton's  invention 
82 


is  a  devilish  device  originated  for  the  benefit  of  sur-      LITTLE 
geons  and  crockery  dealers.  But  this  is  not  wholly  true.     JOURNEYS 
Q  Without  this  Law  of  Gravitation  the  Earth  could  not 
retain  her  spherical  shape — only  through  this  constant 
drawing  in  toward  the  center  could  she  exist. 
The  other  planets,  too,  must  be  round  or  they  could 
not  exist,  and  so  they  also  had  this  same  quality  of 
gravity  in  common  with  the  Earth — a  drawing  in  of 
everything  toward  the  center.  Here  was  a  positive  dis- 
covery— this  similarity  of  the  heavenly  bodies  ! 
Every  one  of  the  heavenly  bodies  was  exerting  a  con- 
stant attraction  toward  all  other  heavenly  bodies,  and 
this  attractive  power  must  be  in  proportion  to  the  dis- 
tance they  were  from  the   object  acted  upon.  Thus 
were  their  movements  and  orbits  accounted  for. 
At  this  time  Newton  was  perfectly  familiar  with  Kep- 
ler's Law,  that  the  squares  of  the  periodic  times  of  a 
planet  were  as  the  cubes  of  its  distance  from  the  sun. 
And  from  this,  he  inferred  that  the  attraction  varied  as 
the  square  of  the  planet's  distance  from  the  sun. 
Here  he  was  working  on  territory  that  had  never  been 
surveyed.  At  first,  in  his  exuberance,  he  thought  to 
quickly  figure  out  the  size  and  weight  of  each  planet 
by  measuring  its  attractive  power.  He  did  not  realize 
that  he  had  cut  out  for  himself  work  that  would  re- 
quire many  men  and  several  centuries  to  cover,  but 
surely  he  was  on  the  right  scent — a  finite  man  keen 
upon  the  secrets  of  the  Infinite ! 

He  was  still  at  his  mother's  old  home  in  the  country, 
without  scientific  apparatus  or  the  stimulus  of  col- 

83 


LITTLE     leagues,  when  we  find  by  a  record  in  his  journal  that 
JOURNEYS     antique  groan  because  there  were  only  twenty-four 
hours  in  a  day,  and  that  eight  were  required  for  sleep 
and  eight  more  for  recreation ! 

A  subject  a  little  nearer  home  than  planetary  attraction 
had  now  switched  him  off  from  measuring  and  weigh- 
ing the  stars.  He  was  hard  at  work  in  his  mother's 
little  sitting-room,  with  the  windows  darkened,  much 
to  that  good  woman's  perplexity. 

By  shutting  out  all  light  from  the  windows  and  allow- 
ing the  sun's  rays  to  enter  by  a  single  little  circular 
aperture,  he  had  gotten  the  sunlight  captured  and  tamed 
where  he  could  study  it.  This  ray  of  light  he  exam- 
ined by  a  small  hand-glass  that  he  himself  had  made. 
In  looking  at  the  ray,  quite  accidentally,  he  found  it 
could  be  deflected  and  sent  off  at  will  in  various  direc- 
tions. 'When  thrown  on  the  wall,  instead  of  being  sim- 
ply white  light  it  had  seven  distinct  colors  beginning 
with  violet  &  running  down  to  red.  So  white  light  was 
not  a  single  element,  it  was  made  up  of  various  rays 
which  had  to  be  united  in  order  to  give  us  sunlight. 
Q  Eureka !  He  had  found  the  secret  of  the  rainbow — 
the  sun's  rays  broken  up  and  separated  by  the  refract- 
ing agency  of  clouds ! 

Well  does  Darwin  declare  that  the  separation  of  sun- 
light into  its  component  parts,  and  the  invention  of  the 
spectrum,  mark  an  advance  in  man's  achievement  such 
as  the  world  had  not  seen  since  the  time  of  Archimedes. 


JHE  University  at  Cambridge  was  closed      LITTLE 
until  October,  1667.  Most  of  the  interven-     JOURNEYS 
ing  time  Newton  spent  at  the  home  of  his 
mother,  but  from  his  accounts  we  see  that 
the  College    people    kept  their  eagle-eye 
upon  him,  for  they  sent  him  remittances 
regularly  for  "  commons." 

When  he  returned  to  Cambridge  he  was  assigned  to 
the  "  spiritual  chamber,"  which  was  a  room  next  to 
the  chapel,  that  had  formerly  been  reserved  as  a  guest 
room  for  visiting  dignitaries. 

In  March,  1668,  he  was  given  the  degree  of  Master  of 
Arts.  His  studies  now  were  of  a  very  varied  kind.  He 
was  required  to  give  one  lecture  a  week  on  any  subject 
of  his  own  choosing.  Needless  to  say  his  themes  were 
mathematical  or  scientific.  Just  what  they  were  can 
best  be  inferred  by  consulting  his  cash-book,  since  the 
lectures  themselves  were  not  written  out  and  all  mem- 
oranda concerning  them  has  disappeared.  This  account- 
book  shows  expenditures  for  Gunter's  Book  (he  who 
invented  the  Gunter's  Chain)  a  magnet,  compass,  glue, 
bulbs,  putty,  antimony,  vinegar,  white  lead,  salts  of 
tartar,  and  lenses. 

In  addition  there  are  a  few  interesting  items  such  as 
one  sees  in  the  Diary  of  George  "Washington — "  Lost 
at  cards,  five  shillings."  "  Treating  at  tavern,  ten  shil- 
lings." "Binding  my  Bible,  three  shillings."  "Spent 
on  my  cousin,  one  pound,  two."  "  Expenses  for  wetting 
my  degree,  sixteen  shillings." 

This  last  item  shows  that  times  have  changed  but  little : 

85 


LITTLE  this  scientist  and  philosopher  par  excellence  had  to 
JOURNEYS  moisten  his  diploma  at  the  tavern  for  the  benefit  of  good 
fellows  who  little  guessed  with  whom  they  drank. 
He  also  had  "  poor  relation  "  come  to  visit  him  ;  and  it 
is  significant  that  while  there  are  various  items  show- 
ing where  he  lost  money  at  cards,  there  are  no  refer- 
ences to  any  money  won  at  the  same  business,  from 
which  we  infer  that  while  there  was  no  one  at  Cam- 
bridge -who  could  follow  him  in  his  studies,  there  yet 
were  those  who  could  deal  themselves  better  hands 
when  it  came  to  the  pasteboards. 

Evidently  he  got  discouraged  at  playing  cards,  for  after 
the  year  1668,  there  are  no  more  items  of  "treating  at 
the  tavern  "  or  "lost  at  cards."  The  boys  had  tried  to 
educate  him,  but  had  not  succeeded.  In  card  exploi- 
tation he  fell  a  victim  of  arrested  development. 
I  suppose  it  will  not  cause  any  one  a  shock  to  be  told 
that  "the  greatest  original  thinker  of  all  time"  was 
not  exactly  a  perfect  man.  So  let  the  truth  be  known 
that  throughout  his  life,  Newton  had  a  well-defined 
strain  of  superstition  running  through  his  character.  He 
never  quite  relinquished  the  idea  of  transmutation  of 
metals,  and  at  times  astrology  was  quite  as  interest- 
ing to  him  as  astronomy. 

In  'writing  to  a  friend  who  was  about  to  pay  a  visit  to  the 
mines  of  Hungary  he  says:  "  Examine  most  carefully 
and  ascertain  just  how  and  under  what  conditions  na- 
ture transforms  iron  into  copper  and  copper  into  silver 
and  gold." 

In  his  laboratory  he  had  specimens  of  iron  ore  that 
86 


contained  copper,  and  also  samples  of  copper  ore  that      LITTLE 
contained  gold,  and  from  this  he  argued  that  these     JOURNEYS 
metals   were  transmutable,  and   really  in  the  act   of 
transmutation  when  the  process  was  interfered  with 
by  the  miner's  pick. 

He  had  transformed  a  liquid  into  a  mass  of  solid  crys- 
tals instantly,  and  all  of  the  changes  possible  in  light, 
which  he  had  discovered,  had  enlarged  his  faith  to  a 
point  where  he  declared,  "Nothing  is  impossible." 
Qlt  is  somewhat  curious  that  Newton,  who  had  no 
soft  sex-sentiment  in  his  nature,  quite  unlike  Galileo, 
still  believed  in  alchemy  and  astrology,  while  Galileo's 
cold  intellect  at  once  perceived  the  fallacy  of  these 
things.  Galileo  also  saw  at  once  that  for  the  sun  to  stand 
still  at  Joshua's  command,  would  really  mean  that  the 
Earth  must  cease  her  motion,  since  the  object  desired 
was  to  prolong  the  day.  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  who  dis- 
covered the  Law  of  Gravitation,  yet  believed  that  at 
the  command  of  a  barbaric  chieftain,  this  Law  was  ar- 
rested, and  all  planetary  attraction  was  made  to  cease 
while  he  fought  the  Philistines  for  the  possession  of 
pasture  land  to  which  he  had  no  title. 
Galileo  did  not  know  as  much  as  Newton  about  plan- 
etary attraction,  but  very  early  in  his  career  he  per- 
ceived that  the  Bible  was  not  a  book  that  could  be 
technically  relied  upon. 

With  Newton  the  Bible  presented  no  difficulties.  He 
regularly  attended  church  and  took  part  in  the  ritual. 
Religion  was  one  thing  and  his  daily  work  another.  He 
kept  his  religion  as  completely  separate  from  his  life  as 

87 


LITTLE     did   Gladstone,  who  believed  the  Mosaic  account  of 
JOURNEYS     creation  was  literally  true,  and  yet  had  a  clear,  cool, 
calculating  head  for  facts. 

The  greatest  financial  exploiter  in  America  today  is 
an  Orthodox  Christian,  taking  an  active  part  in  mis- 
sionary work  and  the  spread  of  the  Gospel.  In  his  fam- 
ily he  is  gentle,  kind  and  tender;  a  good  neighbor  a 
punctilious  church-goer,  a  leader  in  Sunday-school, 
a  considerate  teacher  of  little  children. 
In  business  relations  he  is  as  conscienceless  as  Tam- 
erlane, who  built  a  mountain  of  skulls  as  a  monument 
to  himself.  He  is  cold,  calculating,  and  if  opposed,  vin- 
dictive. On  occasion  he  is  absolutely  -without  heart: 
compassion,  mercy  or  generosity  are  not  then  in  his 
make-up.  The  best  lawyers  procurable  are  paid  princely 
sums  to  study  for  him  the  penal  code,  and  legislatures 
have  even  revised  it  for  his  benefit.  Eviction,  destruc- 
tion, suicide  and  insanity  have  trod  in  his  train.  A  pic- 
ture of  him  makes  you  think  of  that  dark  and  gloomy 
canvas  where  Alexander,  Csesar  and  Napoleon  ride 
slowly  side  by  side  through  a  sea  of  stiffened  corpses. 
Bribery,  coercion,  violence  and  even  murder  have  been 
this  man's  weapons.  He  is  the  richest  man  in  America. 
And  yet,  as  I  said  in  the  beginning,  all  this  represents 
only  one  side  of  his  nature  :  he  reads  his  chapter  in  the 
Bible  each  evening  by  his  family  fireside,  and  tenderly 
kisses  his  grandchildren  good  night. 
The  individual  who  imagines  that  embezzlers  are  all 
riotous  in  nature,  and  by  habit  spendthrifts,  does  not 
know  humanity.  The  embezzler  is  one  man ;  the  model 
88 


citizen  another,  and  yet  both  souls  reside  in  the  one 
body  j>  Jt, 

Nero  had  a  passion  for  pet  pigeons,  and  the  birds  used 
to  come  at  his  call,  perch  on  his  shoulder  and  take 
dainty  crumbs  from  his  lips. 

The  natures  of  some  men  are  divided  up  into  water- 
tight compartments.  Sir  Isaac  Newton  kept  his  relig- 
ion in  one  compartment,  and  his  science  in  another — 
they  never  got  together. 

Voltaire  says,  ""When  Sir  Isaac  Newton  discovered 
the  Law  of  Gravitation  he  excited  the  envy  of  the 
learned  men  of  the  world;  but  they  got  even  with  him 
when  he  wrote  a  book  on  the  prophecies  of  the  Bible." 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


[HEN  Newton  was  only  twenty-seven  years 
old  he  was  elected  Lucasian  Professor  of 
Mathematics  of  Trinity,  an  office  that  car- 
ried with  it  a  goodly  salary  and  also  much 
honor.  Never  before  had  so  young  a  man 
held  this  chair. 
Newton  was  a  pioneer  in  announcing  the  physical  prop- 
erties of  light.  Every  village  photographer  now  fully 
understands  this,  but  when  Newton  proclaimed  it  he 
created  a  whirlwind  of  disapproval.  When  a  man  at 
that  time  put  forth  an  unusual  thought  it  was  regarded 
as  a  challenge.  Teachers  and  professors  all  over  Great 
Britain,  and  also  in  Germany  and  France,  set  about  to 
show  the  fallacy  of  Newton's  conclusions. 
Newton  had  issued  a  pamphlet  with  diagrams  show- 

89 


LITTLE     ing  how  to  study  light,  and  the  apparatus  was  so  simple 
JOURNEYS     and  cheap  that  the  "  Newton  experiments"  were  tried 
everywhere  in  schoolrooms. 

People  always  combat  a  new  idea  when  first  presented, 
and  so  Newton  found  himself  overwhelmed  with  cor- 
respondence. Cheap  arguments  were  fired  into  Cam- 
bridge in  volleys.  These  were  backed  up  by  quibbling 
men — Pro  Bono  Publico,  Veritas  and  Old  Subscriber — 
men  incapable  of  following  Newton's  scientific  mind. 
In  his  great  good-nature  and  patience  Newton  replied 
to  his  opponents  at  length. 

His  explanations  were  construed  into  proof  that  he 
was  not  sure  of  his  ground.  One  man  challenged  him 
to  publicly  debate  the  matter,  and  we  hear  of  his  going 
up  to  London,  king  that  he  was,  to  argue  with  a  com- 
moner Jt>  jt 

Such  terms  as  "pretender,"  "upstart,"  "falsifier," 
were  freely  used,  and  poor  Newton  for  a  time  was  al- 
most in  despair.  He  had  thought  that  the  world  was 
anxious  for  truth  !  Some  of  his  fellow-professors  now 
touched  their  foreheads  and  shook  their  heads  omi- 
nously as  he  passed.  He  had  gone  so  far  beyond  them 
that  their  cries  of  "  whoa !  "  were  unnoticed. 
It  is  here  worth  noting  that  the  universal  fame  of  Sir 
Isaac  Newton  was  brought  about  by  his  rancorous 
enemies  and  not  by  his  loving  friends.  Gentle,  honest, 
simple  and  direct  as  was  his  nature,  he  experienced 
notoriety  before  he  knew  fame.  To  the  world  at  large 
he  was  a  "wizard"  and  a  "juggler"  before  he  was 
acknowledged  a  teacher  of  truth — a  man  of  science. 
90 


Q  When  the  dust  of  conflict  concerning  Newton's  an-      LITTLE 
nouncement  of  the  qualities   of  light   had   somewhat     JOURNEYS 
subsided,  he  turned  to  his  former  discovery,  the  Law 
of  Gravitation,  and  bent  his  mighty  mind  upon  it.  The 
influence  of  the  moon  upon  the  Earth,  the  tilt  of  the 
Earth,  the  flattening  at  the  poles,  the  recurring  tides, 
the  size,  weight  and  distance  of  the  planets  now  occu- 
pied Newton's  attention.  And  to  properly  study  these 
phenomena  he  had  to  construct  special  and  peculiar 
apparatus  ^  £• 

In  1687  the  results  of  his  discoveries  were  brought  to- 
gether in  one  great  book,  the  "  Principia."  Newton  was 
then  forty-five  years  old.  He  was  still  the  Cambridge 
professor,  but  was  well  known  in  political  circles  in 
London  on  account  of  having  been  sent  there  at  vari- 
ous times  to  represent  the  University  in  a  legal  way. 
QHis  diplomatic  success  led  to  his  being  elected  a 
member  of  Parliament.  Among  other  great  men  whom 
he  met  in  London  was  Samuel  Pepys  who  kept  a  diary 
and  therein  recorded  various  important  nothings  about 
"  Mr.  Isaac  Newtown  of  Cambridge — a  school-teacher 
of  degree,  with  a  great  dignity  of  manner  and  pleasing 
Countenance."  It  seems  Newton  thought  so  well  of 
Pepys  that  he  wrote  him  several  letters,  from  which 
Samuel  gives  us  quotations.  Pepys  really  claimed  the 
honor  of  introducing  Newton  into  good  society. 
Among  others  with  whom  Newton  made  friends  in 
Parliament  was  Mr.  Montague,  who  shortly  after  be- 
came Secretary  of  the  Exchequer.  Montague  made  his 
friend  Newton  a  Warden  of  the  Mint,  with  pay  about 

91 


LITTLE     double  that  which  he  had  received  while  at  Cambridge. 

JOURNEYS     Qln  this  public  work  Newton  brought  such  talent  and 

diligence  to  bear  that  in  1697  he  was  made  Master  of 

the  Mint,  at  a  salary  of  fifteen  hundred  pounds  a  year 

— a  princely  sum  in  those  days. 

There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  fact  that  Newton  was  a 
devout  Churchman  and  an  upholder  of  the  Established 
Order,  was  a  great  although  perhaps  unconscious  dip- 
lomatic move.  His  delightful  personality — gracious, 
suave,  dignified  and  silent — won  for  him  admiration 
wherever  he  went.  In  argument  his  fine  reserve  and 
excellent  temper  were  most  convincing.  Had  he  turned 
his  attention  to  the  law  he  would  have  become  Chief 
Justice  of  England. 

In  1703  he  was  elected  President  of  the  Royal  Society, 
an  office  he  held  continuously  for  twenty-five  years, 
and  which  tenure  was  only  terminated  by  his  death. 
Q  In  1705  the  Queen  paid  a  visit  to  Cambridge,  and  there 
with  much  pageantry  the  honor  of  Knighthood  was 
bestowed  that  changed  Professor  Newton  into  Sir 
Isaac  Newton. 

But  the  man  himself  was  still  the  simple,  modest  gen- 
tleman. The  title  did  not  spoil  him — he  was  a  noble 
man  from  boyhood. 

His  duties  as  Master  of  the  Mint  did  not  interfere  with 
his  studies  and  scientific  investigations. 
He  revised  and  rewrote  his  "  Principia,"  and  in  1713 
the  new  edition  was  issued.  One  copy  was  most  sump- 
tuously bound,  and  Sir  Isaac,  who  was  a  special  favor- 
ite at  court,  presented  it  to  the  Queen  in  person.  Those 
92 


who  are  interested  in  such  things,  by  applying  to  the 

Curator  of  the  British  Museum  may  see  and  turn  the 

leaves  of  this  book,  reading  the  gracious  inscription  of 

the   author,  while   a  solemn   man   in   brass  buttons 

stands  behind  ^  <£ 

Newton  died  March  20, 1727,  aged  eighty-five,  and  was 

buried  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

The  verdict  of  humanity  concerning  Sir  Isaac  Newton 

has  been  summed  up  by  Laplace  thus :  HIS   WORK 

WAS    PRE-EMINENT    ABOVE    ALL    OTHER 

PRODUCTS    OF    THE    HUMAN     INTELLECT. 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


93 


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Vol.  XVI 


APRIL,  1905 


No.  4 


t'ttle 


Co  Homes  of  <&reat  ^rtr nttsts 

By    ELBERT    H  V  B  8  Jt  R  D 


HUMBOL 


J 


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1905  WILL  BE  TO  THE  HOMES  OF  GREAT  SCIEN- 
TISTS, AND  THE  SUBJECTS  ARE  AS  FOLLOWS: 

Copernicus  Ernst  Haeckel 

Galileo  Carl  von  Linnaeus 

Sir  Isaac  Newton  Thomas  H.  Huxley 

Humboldt  John  Tyndall 

Sir  Wm.  H.  Herschel  Alfred  Russel  Wallace 

Charles  R.  Darwin  John  Fiske 

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_ — ___- — . „„___-_  ___ .^ 

The  Man  of  Sorrows 

Being  a  Little  Journey 
to  the  home  of 

JESUS   OF   NAZARETH 

By  ELBERT  HUBBARD 

SINCERE  attempt  to  sketch   the 
life,  time,  and  teachings,  and  with 
truth  limn  the  personality  of  The 
Man  of  Sorrows. 
Printed  on  hand-made  paper,  from  a  new 
font  of  Roman  type,  with  special  initials 
and  ornaments  designed  by  our  Roycroft 
artists.  One  hundred  &  twenty  pages.  A  very  ! 
beautiful  book,  bound  solidly,  yet  simply  in  j 
limp  leather,  silk  lined.  A  choice  gift  book. 

PRICE     PER    VOLUME,         -         S2.OO 

Q  If  Elbert  Hubbard's  name  lives  in  literature,  it  will  not  be 
on  account  of  his  exquisite  "  Philistine"  fooling;  nor  yet  be- 
cause of  that  interesting  trifle,  "A  Message  to  Garcia."  But  it 
will  be  on  account  of  this  book,  "  The  Man  of  Sorrows."  Here 
is  a  limpid,  lucid  tale  of  a  man's  life  as  the  author  sees  it — told 
as  if  it  had  never  been  told  before — told  without  preaching;  in 
language  full  of  grace,  tenderness,  and  strong,  quiet  reserve. 
The  book  is  an  unconscious  bid  for  immortality. — Denver  Post. 

--4 


IT'S  FOOD 

That   Restores  and    Makes    Health   Possible. 


There  are  stomach  specialists  as  well  as  eye  and  ear 
and  other  specialists. 

One  of  these  told  a  young  lady  of  New  Brunswick,  N. 
J.,  to  quit  medicines  and  eat  Grape-Nuts.  She  says: 

"For  about  12  months  I  suffered  severely  with  gastri- 
tis. I  was  unable  to  retain  much  of  anything  on  my  stom- 
ach, and  consequently  was  compelled  to  give  up  my  oc- 
cupation. I  took  quantities  of  medicine,  and  had  an  idea 
I  was  dieting,  but  I  continued  to  suffer,  and  soon  lost  15 
pounds  in  weight.  I  was  depressed  in  spirits  and  lost  in- 
terest in  everything  generally.  My  mind  was  so  affected 
that  it  was  impossible  to  become  interested  in  even  the 
lightest  reading  matter. 

"After  suffering  for  months  I  decided  to  go  to  a  stom- 
ach specialist.  He  put  me  on  Grape-Nuts  and  my  health 
began  to  improve  immediately.  It  was  the  keynote  of  a 
new  life.  I  found  that  I  had  been  eating  too  much  starchy 
food  which  I  did  not  digest,  and  that  the  cereals  which  I 
had  tried  had  been  too  heavy.  I  soon  proved  that  it  is  not 
the  quantity  of  food  that  one  eats,  but  the  quality. 

"In  a  few  weeks  I  was  able  to  go  back  to  my  old  busi- 
ness of  doing  clerical  work.  I  have  continued  to  eat  Grape- 
Nuts  for  both  the  morning  and  evening  meal.  I  wake  in 
the  morning  with  a  clear  mind  and  feel  rested.  I  regained 
my  lost  weight  in  a  short  time.  I  am  well  and  happy  again 
and  owe  it  to  Grape-Nuts."  Name  given  by  Postum  Co., 
Battle  Creek,  Mich. 

Look  in  each  pkg.  for  the  little  book,  "The  Road  to 
Wellville." 


L  I  T  T  L  E  \£ 
JOURNEYS 


TO  HOMES 
OF  GREAT 
SCIENTISTS 


WRITTEN  BY  ELBERT 
HUBBARD  AND  DONE 
INTO  BOOK  FORM  BY 
THE  ROYCROFTERS  AT 
THEIR  SHOP,  WHICH 
IS  IN  EAST  AURORA, 
NEW  YORK,  A.D.  MCMV 


HUMBOLDT 


CHE  actual  miracle  of  the  Universe  is  the  invanableness  of  Law. 
Under  like  conditions  a  like  result  must  follow,  and  upon  this 
rock  is  the  faith  of  the  Scientist  built.  — THE  COSMOS 


• 


Humboldt 


U    M    B    O    L    D    T 

>HE  Baron  and  Baroness  von  Hollwede 
were  not  happily  married.  The  Baroness 
had  intellect,  spirit,  aspiration,  with  an 
appreciation  of  all  that  was  best  in  art, 
music  and  the  world  of  thought.  As  to 
the  Baron,  he  had  drunk  life's  wine  to 

S'vvvs^'  t*ie  ^ees  anc*  Pronounced  the  draught  bit- 
-\O^£^  ter.  He  was  a  heavy  dragoon  with  a  soul 
for  foxhounds.  Later,  when  gout  got  to 
twinging  him,  he  contented  himself  with 
cards  and  cronies.  QAnd  then  Destiny, 
like  a  novelist  who  does  not  know  what 
to  do  with  a  character,  sent  him  on  an 
excursion  across  the  River  Styx. 
This  was  a  good  move  all  'round,  and  the 
only  accommodating  action  in  which  the 
Baron  ever  had  a  part.  He  left  a  large 
estate,  not  being  able  to  take  it  with  him. 
Q  There  are  two  kinds  of  widows,  the  be- 
reaved and  relieved. 

In  India  no  widow  is  allowed  to  re- 
marry. The  canons  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  forbid  any  widow  or  widower 
to  remarry  whose  former  partner  is 
living.  A  member  of  the  Catholic  Church 
who  makes  a  marital  mistake  is  not  al- 
lowed to  rectify  it. 

Yet  Nature,  sometimes,  as  if  to  prove  the 

95 


LITTLE     foolishness  of  fearsome  little   man,  justifies   that   of 
JOURNEYS     which  man  hotly  disapproves. 

To  be  a  widow  of  thirty-six,  fair  of  face  and  comely  in 
form,  to  own  a  beautiful  home  and  have  an  income 
greater  than  you  can  spend,  and  still  not  enough  to 
burden  you — what  nobler  ambition ! 
The  Baroness  had  a  little  encumbrance — a  son  aged 
ten.  I  would  like  to  tell  of  his  career,  but  alas,  of  him 
history  is  silent,  save  that  he  was  heir  to  some  of  his 
father's  proclivities,  grew  up,  became  an  army  officer 
and  passed  into  obscurity  in  middle  life,  dishonored 
and  unswung. 

Such  a  widow  as  the  Baroness  von  Hollwede  is  not 
apt  to  mourn  for  long.  She  was  courted  by  many,  but 
it  was  Major  Humboldt  who  found  favor  in  her  heart. 
I  assume  that  all  of  my  gentle  readers  have  in  them 
some  of  the  saltness  of  time,  so  details  can  safely  be 
omitted — let  imagination  bridge  the  interesting  gap. 
CJThe  Major  was  a  few  years  younger  than  the  lady, 
but  like  the  gallant  gentleman  that  he  was,  he  swore 
i'  faith  before  the  notary  that  they  were  of  the  same 
age,  just  as  Robert  Browning  did  when  officially  in- 
terrogated as  to  the  age  of  Elizabeth  Barrett.  Thomas 
Brackett  Reed  avowed  that  no  gentleman  ever  weighed 
over  two  hundred  pounds,  and  I  also  maintain  no 
gentleman  ever  married  a  woman  older  than  himself. 
CfThe  marriage  of  Major  Humboldt  and  the  Baroness 
von  Hollwede  was  a  most  happy  mating  that  fully 
justified  the  venture.  The  Major  had  done  his  work 
bravely  in  the  Seven  Years'  War,  and  was  now  an  at- 
96 


tache  ot  the  King's  Court — a  man  of  means,  of  intellect      LITTLE 
and  many  strong  and  beautiful  virtues.  After  the  mar-     JOURNEYS 
riage  he  became  known  as  Baron  von  Humboldt,  and 
as  to  just  how  he  succeeded  to  the  noble  title  let  us 
not  be  curious — undoubtedly  his  wife  bestowed  it  on 
him,  good  and  generous  woman  that  she  was. 
They  lived  in  the  romantic  Castle  Tegel,  near  Berlin, 
and  separated  from  the  city  by  a  park,  where  the  dark 
pines  still  tower  aloft  and  murmur  their  secrets  to  the 
night  breeze.  Tegel  is  a  most  beautiful  place ;  it  was 
first  a  hunting-lodge  occupied  by  Frederick  the  Great. 
It  is  shut  out  from  the  world  by  its  high  stone  walls, 
and  in  its  dim,  dense  woods,  one  might  easily  imagine 
he  was  far  indeed  from  the  madding  crowd. 
Here  there  were  two   sons  born   to   the   Baron   and 
Baroness — two  years  apart.  One  of  these  sons  sleeps 
now  beneath  the  turret  where  he  first  saw  the  light, 
and  from  which  he  made  others  see  the  light  as  long 
as  he  lived. 

In  Goethe's  "Faust"  is  an  allusion  to  a  mysterious 
legend  that  had  its  rise  in  storied  Tegel.  On  May  18th, 
1778,  Goethe  came  here,  walking  over  from  Berlin, 
dined,  and  walked  on  to  Potsdam.  But  before  he  left 
he  saw  two  beautiful  boys,  aged  eight  and  ten,  playing 
beneath  the  spreading  Tegel  trees.  The  boys  remem- 
bered the  event  and  wrote  of  it  in  their  journal,  men- 
tioning the  kindly  pats  on  their  heads  and  the  prophecy 
that  they  would  grow  up  and  be  great  men. 
Goethe  was  always  patting  boys  on  the  head  and  say- 
ing graceful  things,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  his 

97 


LITTLE     prophecy  was  more  than  a  commonplace.  But  Goethe 
JOURNEYS     always  claimed  it  was  divine  prophecy. 

These  boys  were  William  and  Alexander  von  Hum- 

boldt  Jt>  & 

History   does   not    supply   another  instance   of   two 

brothers  attaining  the  intellectual  height  reached  by 

Alexander  and  'William  von  Humboldt. 

This  being  so,  it  seems  meet  that  we  should  tarry  a 

little  to  inspect  the  method  adopted  in  their  education 

— a  thing  which  the  educated  world  for  the  most  part 

has  not  done. 


HIS  world  of  ours,  round  like  an  orange 
and  slightly  flattened  at  the  poles,  has 
produced  only  five  educated  men.  Of 
course  all  education  is  comparative ;  but 
these  five  are  so  beyond  the  rest  of  man- 
kind that  they  form  a  class  by  themselves. 
QAn  educated  man  means  a  developed  man — a  man 
rounded  on  every  side  of  his  nature.  We  are  aware  of 
no  limit  to  which  the  mind  of  man  may  evolve  ;  other 
men  may  appear  who  will  surpass  the  Immortal  Five, 
but  this  fact  remains  :  none  that  we  know  have. 
Great  men,  so-called,  are  usually  specialists — clever 
actors,  individuals  with  a  knack,  talented  comedians — 
who  preach,  carve,  paint,  orate,  fight,  manipulate, 
manage,  teach,  write,  perform,  coerce,  bribe,  hypno- 
tize, accomplish,  and  get  results.  There  are  great 
mathematicians,  financiers,  sea-captains,  foot-ball 
98 


players,  engineers,  bishops,  wrestlers,  runners,  boxers,  LITTLE 
and  players  on  sweet  zithern  strings.  But  these  are  JOURNEYS 
not  necessarily  great  men  any  more  than  poets, 
painters,  and  pianists  with  wonderful  hirsute  effects 
and  strange  haberdashery  are  great  men. 
It  is  intellect  and  emotion  expanded  in  every  direction 
that  gives  the  true  title  to  greatness.  Judged  in  this 
way,  how  rare  is  the  educated  man — five  in  six  thou- 
sand years !  And  yet  one  of  these  five  educated  men 
had  a  brother  nearly  as  great  as  he.  Alexander  von 
Humboldt  was  past  fifty  before  the  world  of  thinking 
men  realized  that  he  had  outstripped  his  brother 
William — and  Alexander  would  never  admit  he  had. 
Q  These  two  men,  handsome  in  face,  form  and  feature 
— strong  in  body  and  poised  in  mind,  with  souls 
athirst  to  realize  and  know — happy  men,  living  long 
lives  of  useful  effort — surely  should  be  classed  as 
educated  persons. 

And  in  passing,  let  us  note  that  all  education  is  prepar- 
atory— it  is  life  that  gives  the  finals,  not  college.  The 
education  of  the  Von  Humboldt  boys  was  the  Natural 
Method — the  method  advocated  by  Rousseau — the 
education  by  play  and  work  so  combined  that  study 
could  never  become  irksome  nor  work  repulsive. 
Rousseau  said  "  Make  a  task  repugnant  and  the  worker 
will  forever  quit  it  as  soon  as  the  pressure  that  holds 
him  to  it  is  removed." 

The  parents  of  William  and  Alexander  von  Humboldt 
carefully  studied  the  new  plan  of  education  that  was 
at  that  time  being  advocated  by  some  of  the  best  pro- 

99 


LITTLE      fessors  at  Berlin.  "  A  child  must  have  a  teacher,"  said 
JOURNEYS     Jean  Jacques,  "  but  a  professional  teacher  is  apt  to  be- 
come the  slave  of  his  profession,  and  when  this  occurs 
he  has  separated  himself  from  life,  and  therefore  to 
that  degree  is  unfitted  to  teach." 

A  school  should  not  be  a  preparation  for  life — a  school 
should  be  life.  The  Kindergarten  Idea,  among  other 
things,  suggests  that  a  child  should  never  know  he  is 
in  school.  The  discipline  is  kept  out  of  sight,  and  the 
youngster  finds  himself  a  part  of  the  busy  life.  He 
blends  in  with  the  others,  and  works,  plays  and  sings 
under  the  wise  and  loving  care  of  his  "  other  mother," 
the  teacher.  He  is  living,  not  simply  preparing  to  live. 
Q  All  life  should  be  joyous,  spontaneous,  natural.  The 
Rousseau  Idea,  modified  and  refined  by  Froebel,  is 
the  utilization  of  the  propensity  to  play. 
Major  von  Humboldt  found  a  man  who  was  saturated 
with  the  true  Froebel  spirit,  although  this  was  before 
Froebel  was  born.  The  man's  name  was  Heinrich 
Campe.  He  was  hired  to  superintend  the  education  of 
the  Humboldt  boys.  That  is  to  say,  he  was  to  be- 
come their  comrade,  friend,  counsellor,  fellow-scholar, 
playmate  and  teacher. 
Play  needs  direction  as  well  as  work. 
Campe  played  with  the  boys.  They  lived  with  Nature 
— made  lists  of  all  the  trees  at  Tegel,  drew  sketches  of 
the  leaves  and  fruit,  calculated  the  height  of  trees, 
measured  them  at  the  base,  and  occasionally  cut  down 
trees,  first  sitting  in  judgment  on  the  case  and  deciding 
why  a  certain  tree  should  be  removed,  thus  getting  a 
100 


lesson  in  scientific  forestry.  They  became  acquainted     LITTLE 
with  the  bugs,  beetles,  birds  and  squirrels.  They  cared     JOURNEYS 
for  the  horses,  cattle  and  fowls,  and  best  of  all  they 
learned  to  wait  on  themselves. 

Campe  told  them  tales  of  history — of  Achilles,  Peri- 
cles and  Caesar.  Then  they  studied  Greek  that  they 
might  read  of  Athens  in  the  language  of  the  men  who 
made  Athens  great.  They  translated  "  Robinson  Cru- 
soe" into  German,  and  Campe's  translation  of  "  Rob- 
inson Crusoe"  is  today  a  German  classic.  It  was  all 
natural — easy,  interesting.  The  day  was  filled  with 
work  and  play,  and  joyous  tales  of  what  had  been  said 
by  others  in  days  agone. 

"  Teach  only  that  which  you  know  and  never  that 
which  you  merely  believe,"  said  Rousseau. 
There  is  still  a  cry  that  religion  should  be  taught  in 
the  public  schools.  If  we  ask  "What  religion?  "  the 
answer  is,  "  Ours,  of  course  !  " 

Religious  dogma,  being  a  matter  of  belief,  was  taught 
to  the  Humboldts  as  a  part  of  history.  So  these  boys 
very  early  became  acquainted  with  the  dogmas  of 
Confucianism,  Mohammedism  and  Christianity.  They 
separated,  compared  and  analyzed,  and  saw  for  them- 
selves that  dogmatic  religions  were  all  much  alike.  To 
know  all  religions  is  to  escape  slavery  to  any.  In  study-  \ 
ing  the  development  of  races  these  boys  saw  that  a 
certain  type  of  religion  fits  a  certain  man  in  a  certain 
stage  of  his  evolution,  and  so  to  that  degree  religion  is 
necessary. 

An   ethnologist    is  never  a    Corner   Grocery   Infidel. 

101 


LITTLE  The  C.  G.  I.  is  very  apt  to  be  converted  at  the  first  re- 
JOURNEYS  vival,  outrivaling  all  other  "  seekers,"  and  when  warm 
"weather  comes,  falling  from  grace  and  dropping  eas- 
ily into  scofferdom.  The  Humboldts,  like  Thoreau, 
never  had  any  quarrel  with  God,  and  they  were  never 
tempted  to  go  forward  to  the  Mourners'  Bench.  Origin 
and  destiny  did  not  trouble  them  ;  predestination  and 
justification  by  faith  were  not  in  their  curriculum; 
foreordination  and  baptism  were  to  them  problems 
not  to  be  taken  seriously. 

By  studying  religions  in  groups  and  incidentally,  they 
learned  to  distinguish  the  fetich  in  each.  They  read 
Greek  mythology  side  by  side  with  Judean  mythology 
and  noted  the  similarities. 

The  intent  of  Tutor  Campe  was  to  give  these  boys 
a  scientific  education.  Science  is  only  classified  com- 
mon sense.  To  be  scientific  is  to  know  differences — to 
distinguish  between  this  and  that.  Every  successful 
farmer  has  traveled  a  long  way  into  science,  for  sci- 
ence deals  with  the  maintenance,  of  life.  To  know 
soils,  animals  and  vegetation  is  to  be  scientific. 
But  when  the  average  farmer  learns  to  transmute 
compost  into  grass  and  grain,  and  these  into  beef,  he 
usually  stops,  content. 

To  be  a  scientist  in  the  true  sense,  one  must  love 
knowledge  for  its  own  sake,  and  not  merely  for  what  it 
will  bring  on  market-day,  and  so  the  jHumboldts  were 
led  on  through  the  stage  of  wanting  to  make  money, 
to  the  stage  of  wanting  to  know  the  why  and  wherefore. 
<J  It  will  be  seen  that  the  education  of  the  Humboldts 
102 


was  what  the  Boylston  Professor  of  English  at  Harvard     LITTLE 
calls  "fadism,  or  the  successful  effort  at  flabbiness."     JOURNEYS 
Our  Harvard  friend  thinks  that  education  should  be  a 
discipline — that   it  should  be  difficult  and  vexatious, 
and  that  happiness,  spontaneity  and  exuberance  are 
the  antitheses  and  the  foes  of  learning.  To  him  grim 
earnestness,  silence,  sweat  and  lamp  smoke  are  pref- 
erable to  sunshine,  and  joyous,  useful  work  so  wisely 
directed  that  the  pupil  thinks  it  play.  He  believes  that 
to  be  sincere  we  must  be  serious. 

In  these  latter-day  objections  there  is  nothing  new. 
Socrates  met  them  all ;  Rousseau  heard  the  cry  of 
"fad;"  Heyne,  Pestalozzi,  Campe,  Knuth  and  Froe- 
bel  met  the  carpist  and  answered  him  reason  for  rea- 
son, just  as  Copernicus,  Bruno  and  Galileo  told  why 
the  earth  revolved. 

The  professional  teacher  who  can  do  nothing  but 
teach — the  college  professor  who  is  a  college  professor 
and  nothing  else — hates  the  Natural  Method  man  as  the 
person  who  wears  a  paste  diamond  hates  a  lapidary. 


fEINRICH  CAMPE  was  the  tutor  of  the 
Humboldts  for  two  years,  when  he  entered 
the  employ  of  the  King  as  Commissioner 
of  Education  ."After  this,  however,  he  con- 
tinued to  spend  one  day  a  week  at  Tegel 
for  some}  time.  He  loved  the  boys  as  his 
own  and  his  hope  fori their  future  never  relaxed.  Pos- 
sibly his  interest  was  not  wholly  disinterested — with 

103 


LITTLE     the  help  of  these  lads  he  was  working  out  and  proving 
JOURNEYS     his  pedagogic  theories. 

When  Campe  resigned  his  immediate  tutorship  he  was 
allowed  to  select  his  successor,  and  he  chose  a  young 
man  by  the  name  of  Christian  Knuth. 
The  mother  was  a  member  of  this  little  university  of 
four  persons  ;  Knuth,  of  course,  was  a  member,  for  he 
always  considered  himself  more  of  a  student  than 
teacher.  When  Campe  resigned  in  favor  of  Knuth  his 
action  was  in  degree  prompted  by  his  love  and  con- 
sideration for  the  boys.  Knuth  was  only  a  little  past 
twenty,  and  was  able  to  enter  into  the  out-of-door 
sports  and  work  of  the  youngsters  better  than  the  older 
man.  Knuth  was  their  hero — together  they  rode  horse- 
back, climbed  mountains,  excavated  tunnels,  mined  for 
ore,  built  miniature  houses.  "  Knuth  made  every  good 
thing  in  Berlin  available  to  us,"  wrote  William  years 
afterward — "  we  visited  stores,  factories,  barracks  and 
schools,  and  became  familiar  with  a  thousand  com- 
monplace things  never  taught  in  schools  and  colleges." 
C{  When  Alexander  was  twelve  years  old,  the  father 
died.  This  would  have  been  a  severe  blow  to  the  boys 
were  it  not  for  Knuth,  who  seemed  to  stand  to  them 
more  as  the  real  parent  than  did  Major  von  Humboldt. 
C{  Knuth  was  a  business  man  of  no  mean  ability.  The 
Baroness  now  trusted  him  with  all  of  her  financial  af- 
fairs. He  called  on  the  boys  to  help  him  in  the  details 
of  business,  so  the  keeping  of  accounts  and  the  eco- 
nomical handling  of  money  were  lessons  they  learned 
early  in  life. 
104 


When   Alexander  was   seventeen  and  William  nine-      LITTLE 
teen,  the  mother  and  Knuth  decided  that  the   boys     JOURNEYS 
should  have   the   advantages   of  university  life.   Ac- 
cordingly they  were  duly  entered  at  the  University  of 
Frankfort  as  "special  students."  Knuth  also  entered 
as  a  student  in  the  class  with  them.  Special  students, 
be  it  known,  are  usually  those  who  have  failed  to  pass 
the  required  examinations. 

In  this  instance,  William  and  Alexander  were  beyond 
many  of  their  classmates  in  some  things,  but  in  others 
they  were  deficient.  Especially  had  their  education  in 
the  dead  languages  been  "neglected,"  so  it  is  quite 
likely  they  could  not  have  passed  the  examinations 
had  they  attempted  it.  It  should  also  be  explained  that 
special  students  are  not  eligible  to  diplomas  or  de- 
grees J>  & 

But  Campe  and  Knuth  did  not  believe  the  nerve-rack- 
ing plan  of  examinations  wise,  any  more  than  it  is 
wisdom  to  pull  up  a  plant  and  examine  the  roots  to  see 
how  it  prospers.  Neither  did  they  prize  a  college  de- 
gree. They  knew  full  well  that  a  college  degree  is  no 
proof  of  excellence  of  character;  to  them  a  degree  was 
too  cheap  a  thing  to  deviate  in  one's  orbit  to  secure. 
They  were  after  bigger  game. 

At  Frankfort,  Knuth  and  his  charges  lived  in  the  fam- 
ily of  Professor  Loffler,  "  so  as  to  rub  off  a  little  knowl- 
edge from  this  learned  man."  They  studied  history, 
law,  political  economy,  philosophy  and  natural  history. 
We  would  say  their  method  was  desultory  were  it  not 
for  the  fact  that  they  were  always  thorough  in  all  that 

105 


LITTLE     they  undertook.  They  'were  simply  three  boys  together, 

JOURNEYS     intent  on  getting  their  money's  worth.  William  was  a 

little  better  student  than    Alexander,   and  was   the 

leader ;  he  was  larger  in  stature  and  seemed  to  have 

more  vitality. 

Two  years  were  spent  at  the  University  of  Frankfort, 
and  then  our  trio  moved  on  to  the  University  of  Got- 
tingen  where  there  were  distinguished  lecturers  on 
Natural  History  and  Archaeology.  Antiquity  especially 
interested  the  boys,  and  the  evolution  and  history  of 
races  were  followed  with  animation. 
'William  took  especially  to  philosophy  as  expressed  in 
the  writings  of  Kant,  while  Alexander  developed  a  love 
for  botany  and  what  he  called  "the  science  of  out-of- 
doors."  J>  & 

Two  years  at  Gottingen,  following  the  bent  of  their 
minds  and  listening  only  to  those  lectures  they  liked, 
and  they  moved  on  to  Jena.  Here  they  were  in  the 
Goethe  country.  Soon  there  were  overtures  from  Ber- 
lin that  they  enter  the  service  of  the  Government. 
These  overtures  were  set  in  motion  by  Campe,  who, 
however,  kept  out  of  sight  in  the  matter,  and  when  ac- 
cused, stoutly  declared  that  it  was  every  man's  duty 
to  help  himself,  and  that  he  personally  had  never 
helped  any  one  get  a  position  and  never  would. 
William  was  twenty-three,  Alexander  twenty-one. 
William  was  gracious  and  graceful  in  manner  and 
made  himself  at  home  in  the  best  society  ;  Alexander 
was  studious,  reserved  and  inclined  to  be  shy. 
An  invitation  came  that  they  should  visit  Weimar  and 
106 


spend  some  weeks  in  that  little  world  of  art  and  let- 
ters created  by  Goethe  and  Schiller.  To  William  this 
was  very  tempting;  but  Alexander  saw  at  Weimar 
scant  opportunity  to  study  botany  and  geology.  Be- 
sides that,  he  felt  that  sooner  or  later  he  would  drift 
into  the  employ  of  the  Goverment,  following  in  his 
father's  footsteps.  His  ambition  was  practical  mining, 
with  a  taste  for  finance. 

The  brothers  kissed  each  other  good-bye,  and  one 
went  to  Weimar  to  assist  Schiller  in  editing  a  maga- 
zine that  did  not  pay  expenses,  bask  in  the  sunshine 
of  the  great  Goethe,  and  incidentally  to  secure  a  wife. 
The  other  started  on  a  geological  excursion,  and  this 
excursion  was  to  continue  through  life,  and  make  the 
man  the  greatest  naturalist  that  the  world  had  seen 
since  Aristotle  lived,  two  thousand  years  before. 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


'UMBOLDT'S  first  book  was  on  the  geo- 
logical formation  of  the  Rhine,  published 
when  he  was  twenty-six  years  old.  The 
work  was  so  complete  and  painstaking 
that  it  led  to  his  being  appointed  "As- 
sessor of  Mines"  at  Berlin.  This  was  the 
same  office  that  Swedenborg  once  held  in  Scandinavia. 
Q  For  the  benefit  of  our  social  science  friends,  it  is 
rather  interesting  to  note  that  at  this  time  in  Europe 
nearly  all  mines  belonged  to  the  Government.  An  in- 
dividual might  own  the  surface,  and  up  to  the  sky,  but 
his  claim  did  not  go  to  the  center  of  the  earth.  Iron, 

107 


LITTLE     coal,  copper,  silver  and  gold  were  largely  mined,  and 
JOURNEYS     the  Government  either  operated  the  mines  direct,  or 
else  leased  them  on  a  percentage. 

I  am  told  that  in  America  all  mining  is  done  by  indi- 
viduals or  private  companies,  and  that  four-fifths  of  all 
mining  companies  have  no  mines  at  all — merely  sam- 
ples of  ores,  blue-prints,  photographs  and  prospects. 
The  genus  promoter  is  a  very  modern  production  and 
is  a  creation  Humboldt  never  knew ;  the  "  salting  "  of 
mines  was  out  of  his  province,  and  mining  operations 
carried  on  exclusively  in  sky-scrapers  was  a  combi- 
nation he  never  guessed. 

"Whether  society  will  ever  take  a  turn  backward  and 
the  whole  people  own  and  control  the  treasures  de- 
posited by  Nature  in  the  earth,  is  a  question  I  will 
leave  to  my  Marxian  colleagues  to  determine. 
As  a  mine  manager  Humboldt  was  hardly  a  success. 
He  knew  the  value  of  ores,  utilized  various  by-prod- 
ucts that  had  formerly  been  thrown  away,  made 
plans  for  the  betterment  of  his  workers,  and  once  sent 
a  protest  to  the  King  against  allowing  women  and 
children  to  be  employed  under  ground. 
But  the  cost  per  ton  of  his  product  was  out  of  propor- 
tion to  expenses.  While  other  men  mined  the  ore 
he  wrote  a  book  on  "Subterranean  Vegetation."  The 
details  of  business  were  not  to  his  liking.  His  own  pri- 
vate financial  affairs  were  now  turned  over  to  Knuth, 
his  modest  fortune  resolved  into  cash  and  invested  in 
bonds  that  brought  a  low  rate  of  interest.  Freedom 
was  his  passion — to  come  and  go  at  will  was  his  de- 
108 


sire.  The  thirst  for  travel  was  upon  him — travel,  not     LITTLE 
for  adventure,  but  for  knowledge.  JOURNEYS 

He  resigned  his  office  and  tramped  with  knapsack  on 
back  across  the  Alps.  The  habit  of  his  mind  was  that 
of  the  naturalist  investigator.  Geology,  botany  and 
zoology  were  his  properties  by  divine  right.  These 
sciences  really  form  one — geognosy,  or  the  science  of 
the  formation  of  the  earth.  The  plants  dissolve  and 
disintegrate  the  rocks ;  the  animal  feeds  upon  the 
plants  ;  and  animal  life  makes  new  forms  of  vegetation 
possible.  So  the  mineral,  vegetable  and  animal  king- 
doms evolve  together,  constantly  tending  toward  a 
greater  refinement  and  complexity. 
The  highest  form  of  animal  life  is  man ;  and  the  high- 
est type  of  man  is  evolved  where  there  is  a  proper 
balance  between  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms. 
Q  Humboldt  discovered  very  early  in  his  career  that 
the  finest  flowers  grow  where  there  are  the  finest 
birds,  and  man  separated  from  birds,  beasts  and  flow- 
ers could  not  possibly  survive. 

About  this  time  Humboldt,  taking  the  cue  from  Goethe, 
said,  "  Man  is  a  product  of  soil  and  climate,  and  is 
brother  to  the  rocks,  trees  and  animals.  He  is  depend- 
ent on  these,  and  all  things  seem  to  point  to  the  truth 
that  he  has  evolved  from  them.  The  accounts  of  spec- 
ial creation  are  interesting  as  archaeology,  but  biology 
is  distinctly  the  business  of  modern  scientists.  The 
scientist  tells  what  he  knows,  and  the  theologist  what 
he  believes." 

And  again  we  find  Humboldt  writing  from    Switzer- 

109 


LITTLE  land  in  1796,  making  observations  that  have  been  re- 
JOURNEYS  cently  unconsciously  paraphrased  by  the  United  States 
Secretary  of  Agriculture  who  said  in  a  printed  re- 
port, "  "Western  farmers  who  raise  and  sell  hogs  and 
cattle,  feeding  them  grain  instead  of  selling  it,  are  sure 
to  acquire  a  competence.  The  farmers  who  sell  grain 
are  the  ones  who  do  not  pay  off  their  mortgages." 
Says  Humboldt,  "  Here  on  the  sides  of  these  tower- 
ing and  forbidding  mountains  we  find  the  most  fertile 
and  beautiful  miniature  farms,  nestling  in  little  valleys 
or  on  plateaus.  Indeed,  I  heard  today  of  a  man  falling 
out  of  his  farm  and  being  seriously  injured.  He  ven- 
tured too  near  the  edge.  These  Swiss  gardens  with 
their  prosperous  and  intelligent  owners  are  only  pos- 
sible through  the  fact  that  the  owners  keep  all  the  cows 
and  poultry  that  can  comfortably  exist  on  the  acres. 
The  peasants  sell  butter,  cheese  and  eggs,  instead  of 
grain  and  vegetables  exclusively.  They  give  back  to 
the  earth  all  that  they  take  from  it,  so  in  the  course  of  a 
hundred  years  a  fine  soil  evolves  that  supports  valu- 
able animals,  including  valuable  men ;  choice  fruit, 
flowers  and  birds  appear,  and  we  have  what  we  are 
pleased  to  call  Christian  civilization.  It  is  not  for  me 

^to  quibble  about  terms,  but  civilization  is  not  neces- 
sarily Christian,  since  it  is  more  a  matter  of  economics 
and  natural  science  than  religion." 

Where  the  climate  is  fairly  propitious,  but  not  so 
much  so  but  that  it  compels  watchfulness,  economy 
and  effort,  man  will  work,  and  to  aid  him  in  his  work 
he  utilizes  domestic  animals.  And  the  act  of  domesti- 
110 


eating  the  animal  domesticates  the  man.  As  man  im- 
proves the  animal,  he  improves  himself.  One  reason 
the  American  Indian  did  not  progress  was  because  he 
had  neither  horses,  camels,  oxen,  swine  nor  poultry. 
He  had  his  dog,  and  the  dog  is  a  wolf,  and  always  re- 
mains one,  in  that  his  intent  is  on  prey.  This  fitted  the 
mood  of  the  Indian  and  he  continued  to  live  his  pre- 
dacious career  without  a  particle  of  evolution.  To 
stand  still  is  to  retreat,  and  there  is  evidence  that  long 
before  the  year  1492,  there  was  a  North  American  In- 
dian that  was  a  better  Indian  than  the  Indians  who 
watched  the  approach  of  Columbus  and  exclaimed, 
"  Alas  !  we  are  discovered." 

In  crossing  the  Alps,  Humboldt  was  impressed^with  the 
truth  that  man  was  a  necessary  factor  in  working  out 
"creation,"  just  as  much  as  the  earthworm.  When 
men  stir  the  soil  so  as  to  make  it  produce  grain  that 
the  family  may  be  fed,  and  utilize  animals  in  this  work, 
civilization  is  at  hand.  Nations  with  a  controlling  de- 
sire to  absorb,  annex  and  exploit  are  still  to  that  degree 
savages.  Creation  still  is  going  on,  and  this  earth  is  be- 
coming a  better  and  more  beautiful  place  as  men  work 
in  line  with  reason  and  allow  science  to  become  the 
handmaid  of  instinct. 

Humboldt,  above  all  men,  prepared  the  way  for  Dar- 
win, Spencer  and  Tyndall — all  of  these  built  on  him, 
all  quote  him.  His  books  form  a  mine  in  which  they 
constantly  delved. 

Humboldt  in  boyhood  formed  the  habit  of  close  and 
accurate  observation,  and  he  traveled  that  he  might 

111 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


LITTLE  gratify  this  controlling  impulse  of  his  life — the  habit  of 
JOURNEYS  seeing  and  knowing.  His  genius  for  classification  was 
superb;  he  approached  every  subject  with  an  open 
mind,  willing  to  change  his  conclusions  if  it  were 
shown  that  he  was  wrong ;  he  had  imagination  to  see 
the  thing  first  with  his  inward  eye ;  he  had  the 
strength  of  body  to  endure  physical  discomfort,  and 
finally  he  had  money  enough  so  he  was  free  to  follow 
his  bent.  These  qualifications  made  him  the  prince  of 
scientific  travelers — the  pioneer  of  close,  accurate  and 
reliable  explorers. 


BEFORE  Humboldt's  time  travelers  had 
been  mostly  of  the  type  of  Marco  Polo  and 
Sir  John  Mandeville,  who  discovered 
strange  and  wondrous  things,  such  as 
horses  with  five  legs,  dogs  that  could 
talk,  and  anthropopagi  whose  heads  did 
grow  beneath  their  shoulders.  The  temptation  to  be 
interesting  at  the  expense  of  truth  has  always  been 
strong  upon  the  sailor-man.  Read  even  the  history  of 
Christopher  Columbus  and  you  will  hear  of  islands  off 
the  coast  of  America  inhabited  exclusively  by  women 
who  had  only  one  calling-day  in  a  year  when  their 
gentlemen  friends  from  a  neighboring  island  came  to 
see  them. 

The  world  needed  accurate,  scientific  knowledge  con- 
cerning those  parts  of  the  world  seldom  visited  by  man. 
Travel  a  hundred  years  ago  was  accompanied  by  great 
112 


expense  and  more  or  less  peril.  Nations  held   them-      LITTLE 
selves  aloof  from  each  other,  and  travelers  were  looked     JOURNEYS 
upon  as  renegades  or  spies. 

Alexander  von  Humboldt  had  explored  mines,  climbed 
mountains,  visited  that  strange  people,  the  Basques  of 
Spain,  got  little  glimpses  into  Africa  where  the  jungle 
was  waiting  for  a  Livingstone  and  a  Stanley  before 
giving  up  its  secrets. 

The  Corsican  had  thrown  Europe  into  a  fever  of  fear, 
and  war  was  on  in  every  direction,  when  in  1799 
Humboldt  ran  the  blockade  and  sailed  out  of  the  har- 
bor of  Corunna  on  the  little  corvette  "  Pizarro," 
bound  for  the  Spanish  possessions  in  the  New  World. 
Spain  had  discovered  America  in  the  gross  two  hun- 
dred years  before,  but  what  this  country  really  con- 
tained in  way  of  possibilities,  Spain  had  most  certainly 
never  discovered. 

Humboldt's  mind  conceived  the  idea  of  a  Scientific  Sur- 
vey, and  in  this  he  was  the  maker  of  an  epoch.  In  this 
undertaking  he  secured  the  assistance  of  the  Prime 
Minister  who  secretly  issued  passports  and  letters  of 
recommendation  to  Humboldt,  first  cautioning  him 
that  if  the  Court  at  Madrid  should  know  anything 
about  this  proposed  voyage  of  discovery  it  could  never 
be  made,  so  jealous  an.d  ignorant  were  the  officials. 
Only  one  thing  did  Spain  have  in  abundance,  and  that 
was  religion. 

At  that  time  the  Spanish  Colonies  included  Louisiana, 
Florida,  Texas,  California,  Mexico,  Central  America, 
Cuba,  most  of  the  West  Indies,  and  the  most  of  South 

113 


LITTLE     America,  not  to  mention  the  Philippines.  These  colo- 
JOURNEYS     nies  covered  a  territory  stretching  over  five  thousand 
miles  from  North  to  South. 

Twice  a  year  Spain  sent  out  trading  ships,  convoyed  by 
armed  cruisers.  Trade  then  was  monopoly  £nd  extor- 
tion. The  goods  sent  out  were  as  cheap  and  tawdry  as 
could  be  palmed  off;  and  all  that  were  brought  back 
were  bartered  for  at  the  lowest  possible  prices.  Cheat- 
ing in  count,  weight  and  quality  was  considered  per- 
fectly proper,  and  as  the  Government  officials  at  home 
got  a  goodly  grab  into  all  transactions  in  way  of  per- 
quisites all  went  swimmingly — or  fairly  so. 
For  a  Spainard  to  trade  with  any  other  nation  was 
treason  and  if  caught,  his  property  was  confiscated 
and  probably  his  head  forfeited.  No  foreigners  were 
allowed  in  the  colonies,  and  exclusion  was  the  rule. 
To  hold  her  dependencies  Spain  thought  she  must 
keep  them  under  close  subjection;  and  she  seemed 
beautifully  innocent  of  the  fact  that  she  was  the  de- 
pendent, not  they.  She  did  not  believe  in  Free  Trade. 
QThe  Government  was  absolutely  under  military  rule. 
Of  the  botany,  zoology,  geology,  not  to  mention  the 
topography  of  her  American  posessions,  the  officials  of 
Spain  knew  nothing  save  from  the  tales  of  sailors. 
Such  were  Spanish  conditions  when  Humboldt  got 
himself  smuggled  on  board  the  "Pizarro"  and  sailed 
away  June,  4th,  1799. 

With   Humboldt   was   one   companion,    Bonpland,   a 
Swiss  by  birth,  and  a  rare  soul.  Humboldt  was  a  nat- 
uralist and  a  philosopher  and  by  nature  he  was  a  trav- 
114 


eler.  But  he  lacked  that  intrepid  quality  possessed  by,  LITTLE 
say,  Lewis  and  Clarke.  He  had  too  much  brain— too  JOURNEYS 
fine  a  nerve-quality  to  face  the  forest  alone.  Bonpland 
made  good  all  that  he  lacked.  He  used  to  call  Bon- 
pland his  "Treasure."  And  surely  such  a  friend  is  a 
treasure,  indeed.  Bonpland  was  a  linguist,  as  most  of 
the  Swiss  are.  He  was  a  mountain  climber,  and  had 
been  a  soldier  and  sailor,  and  he  knew  enough  of  liter- 
ature and  science  so  he  was  an  interesting  companion. 
He  was  small  in  stature,  lithe,  immensely  strong,  ab- 
solutely fearless,  and  had  left  behind  him  neither  fam- 
ily nor  friends  to  mourn  his  loss.  To  Humboldt  he  was 
guide,  teacher,  protector  and  friend.  Bonpland  was  the 
soul  of  unselfishness. 

Perhaps  a  certain  quality  of  man  attracts  a  certain 
quality  of  friend — I  really  am  not  sure.  But  this  I  know, 
that  while  Alexander  von  Humboldt  had  few  personal 
friends,  he  always  had  just  those  which  his  nature  re- 
quired— his  friends  were  hands,  feet,  eyes  and  ears  for 
him,  to  quote  his  own  words. 

This  voyage  on  the  "  Pizarro  "  occupied  five  years. 
The  travelers  visited  Teneriffe,  Cuba,  Mexico,  and 
skirted  the  coast  of  South  America,  making  many  lit- 
tle journeys  inland.  They  climbed  mountains  that  had 
never  been  scaled  before ;  they  ascended  rivers  where 
white  men  had  never  been,  and  pushed  their  way 
through  jungle  and  forest  to  r,visit  savage  tribes  who 
fled  before  them  in  terror  thinking  they  were  gods. 
On  the  return  trip  they  visited  the  United  States ; 
spending  some  weeks  in  Washington,  where  they  were 

115 


LITTLE  t^ie  guests  of  the  President,  Thomas  Jefferson.  A  very 
JOURNEYS  firm  friendship  sprang  up  between  Humboldt  and  Jef- 
ferson: they  -were  both  freethinkers,  and  when  Hum- 
boldt recorded  in  his  journal  that  Jefferson  was  by  far 
the  greatest  man  in  America,  he  not  only  recorded  his 
personal  conviction,  but  he  spoke  the  truth.  And  as  if 
not  to  be  outdone,  although  he  did  not  then  know 
what  Humboldt  had  said  of  him,  Jefferson  declared 
that  Alexander  von  Humboldt  was  the  greatest  man 
he  ever  saw. 

Most  of  the  vast  number  of  specimens  and  natural  his- 
tory curiosities  gathered  by  Humboldt  and  Bonpland 
were  placed  on  a  homeward  bound  ship  that  sailed 
from  South  America.  This  ship  was  lost  and  all  the 
precious  and  priceless  cargo  went  for  naught.  Had 
Humboldt  and  his  companion  sailed  on  the  ship,  as 
they  first  intended,  instead  of  returning  by  way  of  the 
United  States,  the  world  would  not  have  known  the 
name  of  Alexander  von  Humboldt. 


[HEN  Humboldt  landed  at  Bordeaux  in 
August,  1804,  after  his  five-years'  journey, 
he  immediately  set  out  to  visit  his  brother 
who  was  then  the  German  Ambassador  at 
Rome. 

We  can  imagine  it  was  amost  joyous  meet- 
ing. Of  it  William  said,  "  I  could  not  recognize  him  for 
my  tears — but  beside  this  he  seemed  to  have  grown  in 
stature  and  was  as  brown  as  a  Malay.  Was  he  really 
116 


brother?   Ah,  the  hand  was  the  hand  of  Esau,  but      LITTLE 
when  he  spoke,  it  was  the  same,  gentle,  loving  voice     JOURNEYS 
— the  voice  of  my  brother." 

A  few  weeks  at  Rome  and  Alexander  grew  restless 
for  work.  He  had  made  great  plans  about  publishing 
the  record  of  his  travels.  This  work  was  to  outstrip 
anything  in  book-making  that  the  world  had  ever  seen, 
dealing  with  similar  subjects.  The  [writing  was  done 
on  ship-board,  by  camp-fires,  and  in  the  forest  and 
jungle,  but  now  it  had  all  to  be  gone  over  and  revised 
and  much  of  it  translated  into  French,  for  the  original 
notes  were  sometimes  in  English  and  sometimes  in 
German. 

Only  in  Paris  could  the  work  of  book-making  be  done 
that  would  fill  Humboldt's  ideals.  In  Paris  were 
printers,  engravers,  artists,  binders — Paris  was  then 
the  artistic  center  of  the  world,  as  it  is  today. 
The  result  of  this  first  great  scientific  voyage  of  dis- 
covery was  written  out  in  a  work  of  seventeen  volumes. 
It  was  entitled,  "The  Travels  of  Humboldt  and  Bon- 
pland  in  the  Interior  of  America."  Humboldt  wrote 
the  book,  but  he  wanted  his  friend  to  have  half  the 
credit.  This  superb  set  of  books,  containing  many  en- 
gravings, was  issued  under  Humboldt's  supervision 
and  almost  entirely  at  his  own  expense.  It  was  di- 
vided into  five  general  parts  :  Geography  and  the  Dis- 
tribution of  Plants;  Zoology  and  Comparative  Anat- 
omy ;  Political  Essays  and  Description  of  Peoples  and 
Institutions  in  the  Kingdom  of  New  Spain ;  Astrono- 
my and  Magnetism  ;  Equinoctial  Vegetation. 

117 


LITTLE  I*  took  two  years  to  issue  the  first  volume,  but  the 
JOURNEYS  others  then  came  along  more  rapidly,  yet  it  was  ten 
years  before  the  last  book  of  the  set  was  published. 
QThe  total  expenditure  required  in  issuing  this  set  of 
books  was  over  a  million  francs,  or  to  be  exact,  two 
hundred  and  twenty-six  thousand  dollars. 
The  cost  of  a  set  of  these  books  to  subscribers  was  two 
thousand  five  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  although  there 
were  a  few  sets  containing  hand-colored  plates  and 
original  drawings  that  were  valued  at  twenty  thousand 
dollars.  One  such  set  can  now  be  seen  at  the  British 
Museum.  In  all  only  three  hundred  sets  of  these  books 
were  issued.  One  set  at  least  came  to  America,  for  it 
was  presented  to  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  I  believe  is 
now  in  the  Congressional  Library. 

This  American  Expedition  fixed  Humboldt's  place  in 
history,  but  after  its  completion  and  the  record  was 
written  out  he  had  still  over  half  a  century  to  live. 

'LEXANDER    VON    HUMBOLDT    was 

an  atheist  at  a  time  when  few  men  could 
afford  the  luxury.  Very  fortunately  he  had 
sufficient  fortune  to  place  him  beyond  the 
reach   of  the   bread-and-butter  problem, 
and  his  books  were  written  in  the  language 
of  the  esoteric.  He  did  not  serve  as  an  iconoclast  for  the 
common  people — his  name  was  never  on  the  tongue  of 
rumor — comparatively  few,  indeed,  knew  of  his  exist- 
ence. His  books  were  issued  in  de  luxe  limited  edi- 
118 


tions,  and  were  for  public  libraries,  the  shelves  of  no-      LITTLE 
bility,  or  rich  collectors.  JOURNEYS 

Humboldt  was  judical  in  all  of  his  statements,  ap- 
proaching every  question  as  if  nothing  were  known 
about  it.  He  built  strong  and  was  preparing  the  way, 
throwing  up  ramparts  and  storing  ammunition  for  the 
first  decisive  battle  that  was  to  take  place  between 
Theology  and  Science.  In  his  day  Theology  was  su- 
preme, the  practical  dictator  of  human  liberties.  But  a 
"World's  Congress  of  Freethinkers  has  recently  been 
held  in  Rome.  There  were  present  over  three  thou- 
sand delegates,  representing  every  civilized  country  on 
the  globe.  The  deliberations  of  the  Congress  were  held 
in  a  hall  supplied  by  the  Italian  Government,  and  all 
courtesies  and  privileges  were  tendered  the  delegates. 
Q  The  only  protest  came  from  the  Pope  who  turned 
protestant  and  ordered  special  services  in  all  the 
Catholic  churches  of  Rome  "  to  partially  mitigate  the 
blot  upon  the  fair  record  of  the  Holy  City."  Forty 
years  ago  armed  men  would  have  routed  this  Congress 
by  force,  and  a  hundred  years  ago  the  bare  thought  of 
such  a  meeting  would  have  placed  a  person  who  might 
have  suggested  it  in  imminent  peril. 
Humboldt  prophesied  that  the  world  would  not  for- 
ever be  ruled  by  religious  superstition — science  must 
surely  win.  But  he  did  not  expect  that  the  change 
would  come  so  quickly  as  it  has  ;  neither  did  he  antici- 
pate the  fact  that  orthodox  religion  would  admit  the 
facts  of  science  and  still  flourish.  The  number  of 
Church  communicants  now  is  larger  than  it  was  in 

119 


LITTLE  Humboldt's  time.  The  Church  is  a  department  store 
JOURNEYS  that  Puts  in  the  particular  goods  that  the  people  ask 
for.  Freethinkers  do  not  leave  the  Church ;  the  Church 
is  built  on  a  Goodyear  patent,  and  its  lines  expand 
when  Freethinkers  get  numerous,  so  as  to  include 
them.  The  Church  would  rather  countenance  vice,  as 
it  has  in  the  past,  than  disband.  In  New  York  City  we 
now  have  the  spectacle  of  the  Church  operating  a  sa- 
loon and  selling  strong  drink.  In  all  country  towns, 
religion  failing  in  being  attractive,  to  keep  churches 
alive,  resort  is  had  to  raffles,  lotteries,  concerts, 
chicken-pie  socials,  and  lectures  and  exhortations  by 
strange  men  in  curious  and  unique  garb,  and  singers 
of  reputation. 

The  Church,  being  a  part  of  society,  evolves  as  society 
evolves.  Christianity  is  a  totally  different  thing  now 
from  what  it  was  in  Humboldt's  time — it  was  a  different 
thing  in  Humboldt's  time  from  what  it  -was  a  hundred 
years  before. 

Behold  the  spectacle  of  a  thousand  highly  educated 
and  gentle  men,  from  all  over  the  world,  decorating 
with  garlands  the  statue  of  Bruno  in  Rome,  on  the 
site  where  Churchmen  piled  high  the  fagots  and  burned 
his  living  body ! 

I  foretell  that  when  the  next  World's  Congress  of  Free- 
thinkers occurs  in  Rome,  the  Pope  will  welcome  the 
delegates  and  their  deliberations  will  occur  by  invita- 
tion in  the  wide  basilica  of  St.  Peter's. 
The  world  moves,  and  the  Pope  and  all  the  rest  of  us 
move  with  it. 
120 


When  a  meeting  was  recently  called  in  Jersey  City  to  LITTLE 
welcome  Turner,  the  so-called  anarchist,  the  Mayor  JOURNEYS 
forbade  the  meeting  and  placed  a  cordon  of  policemen 
around  the  intended  meeting-place.  But  lo,in  their  ex- 
tremity the  "  anarchists  "  were  invited  by  a  clergyman 
to  come  and  use  his  church  and  he  led  the  way  to  the 
sacred  edifice,  warning  the  police  to  neither  follow  nor 
enter.  As  we  become  better  we  meet  better  preachers. 
CfHumboldt  could  see  no  rift  through  the  clouds  out- 
side of  the  death  of  the  Church  and  the  disbanding  ot 
her  so-called  sacred  institutions.  We  now  perceive 
that  very  rarely  are  religious  opinions  consciously 
abandoned ;  they  change,  are  modified  and  evolve  into 
something  else.  Churches  are  now  largely  social  clubs. 
In  America  this  is  true  both  of  Catholic  and  Protest- 
ant. All  denominations  are  interested  in  social  better- 
ment because  the  trend  of  human  thought  is  in  that 
direction.  The  Church  is  being  swept  along  upon  the 
tide  of  time.  In  a  few  instances  churches  have  already 
evolved  practical  industrial  betterments,  conducted 
directly  under  the  supervision  of  the  church  and  in  its 
edifice.  There  are  hundreds  of  Kindergartens  now  car- 
ried on  in  church  buildings  that  a  few  years  ago  were 
idle  and  vacant  all  the  week.  Others  have  sewing  cir- 
cles and  boys'  clubs,  and  these  have  metamorphosed 
in  some  instances  into  Manual  Training  Schools  where 
girls  are  taught  Domestic  Science  and  boys  are  given 
instruction  in  the  Handicrafts. 

I  know  a  church  that  derives  its  support  from  the  sale 
of  useful  things  that  are  made  by  its   members  and 

121 


LITTLE     -workers  under  the  supervision  of  its  pastor  who  is  a 

JOURNEYS     master  in  handicraft.  So  this  pretty  nearly  points  the 

ideal — a  church  that  has  evolved  into  an  ethical  and 

industrial   college,  -where  the  pastor  is  not  paid  for 

preaching,  but  for  doing. 

Charles  Bradlaugh  once  said,  "A  paid  priesthood 
blocks  evolution.  These  men  are  educated  to  uphold 
and  defend  the  institution.  They  can  do  nothing  else. 
Most  of  them  have  families  dependent  upon  them — do 
you  wonder  that  it  is  a  fight  to  the  death  !  It  is  not 
truth  that  the  clergy  struggles  for — they  may  think  it 
is — but  the  grim  fact  remains,  it  is  a  fight  for  material 
existence." 

"We  all  confuse  our  interests  with  the  eternal  verities 
— the  thing  that  pays  us  we  consider  righteous,  at 
least  justifiable.  This  is  the  most  natural  thing  in  the 
world. 

An  artist  who  painted  very  bad  pictures  once  took  one 
of  his  canvases  to  Whistler  for  criticism. 
Jimmie  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  made  a  grimace 
that  spoke  volumes. 
"  But  a  man  must  live  some  way  !  "  pleaded  the  poor 
man  in  his  extremity. 

"I  do  not  see  the  necessity,"  was  the  weary  reply. 
Q  Preachers  must  live  ;  their  education  and  environ- 
ment has  unfitted  them  for  useful  effort ;  but  they 
are  a  part  of  the  great  seething  struggle  for  existence. 
And  so  we  have  their  piteous  and  plaintive  plea  for 
the  obsolete  and  the  outworn. 

Disraeli  once  in  an  incautious  moment  exclaimed,  "If 
122 


we  do  away  with  the  Established  Church  what  is  to      LITTLE 
become  of  the  fourteen  million  prepared  and  pickled     JOURNEYS 
sermons  ?  Think  for  a  moment  of  the  infinite  labor  of 
writing  new  sermons  based  upon  a  different  point  of 
view — let  us  be  reasonable  and  not  subject  an  over- 
worked profession  to  the  humiliation  of  destroying  the 
bulk  of  its  assets." 

Science  deals  directly  with  the  maintenance  of  human 
life  and  the  bettering  of  every  condition  of  existence 
through  a  wider,  wiser  and  saner  use  of  the  world. 
Q  Civilization  is  the  working  out  and  comprehending 
and  proving  how  to  live  in  the  best  way.  Theology 
prepares  men  to  die  ;  science  fits  them  to  live.  Science 
deals  with  your  welfare  in  this  world ;  theology  in  an- 
other jfi  jfi 

Theology  has  not  yet  proved  that  there  is   another 
world — its  claims  are  not  even  based  upon  hearsay. 
It  is  a  matter  of  belief  and  assumption. 
Science,  too,  assumes,  and  its  assumption  is  this  :  The . 
best  preparation  for  a  life  to  come  is  to  live  here  and  'y 
now  as  if  there  were  no  life  to  come.  Your  belief  will 
not  fix  your  place  in  another  world — what  you  are, 
may.  The  individual  who  gets  most  out  of  this  life  is 
fitting  himself  to  get  most  out  of  another  if  there  is 
one  &  & 

And  this  brings  us  up  to  that  paragraph  in  the  Cosmos 
where  Humboldt  says,  "  I  perceive  a  period  when  the 
true  priesthood  will  not  be  paid  to  defend  a  fixed  sys- 
tem of  so-called  crystallized  truth.  But  I  believe  the 
time  will  come  when  that  man  will  be  most  revered 

123 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


who  bestows  most  benefits  here  and  now.  The  clergy 
of  Christendom  have  long  stood  as  the  leaders  of 
thought,  but  to  hold  this  proud  position  they  must 
abandon  the  intangible  and  devote  themselves  to  this 
world  and  the  people  who  are  alive. 'f 


[OST  of  Humboldt's  time  during  his  mid- 
dle life  was  spent  at  Paris  where  he  was 
engaged  in  the  herculean  task  of  issuing 
his  splendid  books.  However,  he  varied 
his  work,  so  several  hours  daily  were  de- 
voted to  study  and  scientific  research ; 
and  from  time  to  time  he  made  journeys  over  Europe 
and  Asia. 

In  1827  a  personal  request  came  from  the  King  of 
Prussia  that  Humboldt  should  thereafter  make  Berlin 
his  home.  He  was  too  big  a  man  for  Germany  to  lose. 
CJHe  acceded  to  the  King's  request,  moved  to  Berlin 
and  was  spoken  of  as  "  The  First  Citizen,"  although  he 
would  not  consent  to  holding  office,  nor  would  he  ac- 
cept a  title.  In  vexed  questions  of  diplomacy  he  was 
often  consulted  by  the  King  and  his  Cabinet,  and  in 
many  ways  he  furthered  the  interests  of  education  and 
civilization  by  his  judicial  and  timely  advice. 
He  was  always  a  student,  always  an  investigator,  al- 
ways a  tireless  worker.  He  lived  simply  and  quietly — 
keeping  out  of  society  and  away  from  crowds,  except- 
ing on  the  rare  occasions  when  necessity  seemed  to 
demand  it.  . 
124 


The  quality  of  the  man  was  well  mirrored  in  those      LITTLE 
magnificent  books — all  that  he  did  was  on  the  scale  of     JOURNEYS 
grandeur. 

His  books  were  too  high  in  price  for  the  average 
reader  but  on  the  request  of  the  King  he  consented  to 
give  a  course  of  five,  free,  popular  lectures  for  the 
people. 

No  one  foresaw  the  result  of  these  addresses. 
The  course  was  so  successful  that  it  extended  itsell 
into  sixty-one  lectures,  and  covered  a  period  of  over 
ten  years'  time.  No  admittance  was  charged,  free  tick- 
ets being  given  out  to  applicants.  Very  soon  after  the 
first  lecture  a  traffic  sprang  up  in  these  free  tickets,  car- 
ried on  by  our  Semitic  friends,  and  the  tickets  soared 
as  high  as  three  dollars  each.  Then  the  strong  hand  of 
the  Government  stepped  in — the  tickets  were  can- 
celled, and  the  public  was  admitted  to  the  lectures 
without  ceremony.  Boxes,  however,  were  set  apart  for 
royalty  and  foreign  visitors,  some  of  whom  came  from 
England,  Belgium,  Switzerland  and  France.  The  size 
of  these  audiences  was  limited  simply  by  the  capacity 
of  the  auditorium — the  attendance  at  first  being  about 
a  thousand ;  later  a  larger  hall  was  secured  and  the  at- 
tendance ran  as  high  as  four  thousand  persons  at 
each  address. 

The  subjects  were  as  follows : 
Three  lectures  on  the  History  of  Science. 
Two  on  reasons  why  we  should  study  Science. 
Four  on  the  Crust  of  the  Earth,  and  the  nature  of  Vol- 
canoes and  Earthquakes. 

125 


LITTLE     Two  on  the  form  of  the  Earth's  Surface  and  the  ele- 
JOURNEYS     vation  of  the  Continents. 

Five  on  Physical  Geography. 
Sixteen  on  Astronomy. 

Five  on  the  nature  of  Heat  and  Magnetism. 
Two  on  Mountains  and  how  they  are  Formed. 
Three  on  the  nature  of  the  Sea. 
Ten  on  the  Atmosphere  as  an  Elastic  Fluid. 
Three  on  the  Distribution  of  Matter. 
Three  on  the  Geography  of  Animals. 
Three  on  Races  of  Men. 
Every  good  thing  begins  as  something  else,  and  what 
was  intended  for  the  common  people  became  scientific 
lectures  for  educated  people.  "The  man  who  was 
most  benefited  by  these  lectures  was  myself,"  said 
Humboldt. 

Men  grow  by  doing  things.  Lectures  are  for  the  lec- 
turer. Humboldt  found  out  more  things  in  giving  these 
lectures  than  he  knew  before — he  discovered  himself. 
And  long  before  they  were  completed  he  knew  that 
his  best  work  was  embodied  right  here — in  doing  for 
others  he  had  done  for  himself. 
In  attempting  to  reveal  the  Universe  or  "  Kosmos  "  he 
revealed  most  of  his  own  comprehensive  intelligence. 
That  many  of  his  conclusions  have  since  been  aban- 
doned by  the  scientific  -world  does  not  prove  such 
ideas  valueless — they  helped  and  are  helping  men  to 
find  the  truth. 
These  sixty-one  "popular"  and  free  lectures  makeup 
the  gigantic  work  known  as  "  Humboldt's  Cosmos." 
126 


i AYS    Robert  Ingersoll  in   his  tribute   to 
Alexander  von  Humboldt : 
His   life   was   pure,    his   aims    lofty,   his 
learning   varied   and    profound,    and    his 
achievements  vast. 

We  honor  him  because  he  has  ennobled  our 
race,  because  he  has  contributed  as  much 
as  any  man,  living  or  dead,  to  the  real  prosperity  of  the 
world.  We  honor  him  because  he  has  honored  us — 
because  he  labored  for  others — because  he  was  the 
most  learned  man  of  the  most  learned  nation  of  his 
time — because  he  left  a  legacy  of  glory  to  every  human 
being.  For  these  reasons  he  is  honored  throughout  the 
world.  Millions  are  doing  homage  to  his  genius  at  this 
moment,  and  millions  are  pronouncing  his  name  with 
reverence  and  recounting  what  he  accomplished. 
We  associate  the  name  of  Humboldt  with  oceans, 
continents,  mountains,  and  volcanoes — with  towering 
palms — the  wide  deserts — the  snow-lipped  craters  of 
the  Andes — with  primeval  forests  and  European  capi- 
tals— with  wilderness  and  universities — with  savages 
and  savants— with  the  lonely  rivers  of  unpeopled 
wastes — with  peaks,  pampas,  steppes,  and  cliffs  and 
craigs — with  the  progress  of  the  world — with  every 
science  known  to  man,  and  with  every  star  glittering 
in  the  immensity  of  space. 

Humboldt  adopted  none  of  the  soul-shrinking  creeds 
of  his  day ;  he  wasted  none  of  his  time  in  the  stupidi- 
ties, inanities  and  contradictions  of  theological  meta- 
physics ;  he  did  not  endeavor  to  harmonize  the  astron- 
omy and  geology  of  a  barbarous  people  with  the  science 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  Never,  for  one  moment,  did 
he  abandon  the  sublime  standard  of  truth :  he  inves- 
tigated, he  studied,  he  thought,  he  separated  the 
gold  from  the  dross  in  the  crucible  of  his  brain.  He 

127 


was   never  found   on   his   knees  before   the   altar  of 

superstition.  He  stood  erect  by  the  tranquil  column 

of  Reason.  He  was  an   admirer,  a  lover,  an   adorer 

of  Nature,  and   at  the  age  of  ninety,  bowed  by  the 

weight  of  nearly  a  century,  covered  with  the  insignia 

of  honor,  loved  by  a  nation,  respected  by  a  world, 

with  kings  for  his  servants,  he  laid  his  weary  head 

upon  her  bosom — upon  the  bosom  of  the   Universal 

Mother — and   with  her  loving  arms  about  him,  sank 

into  that  slumber  which  we  call  Death. 

History  added  another  name  to  the  starry  scroll  of  the 

immortals. 

The  world  is  his  monument ;  upon  the  eternal  granite 

of  her  hills  he  inscribed  his  name,  and  there  upon 

everlasting  stone  his  genius  wrote  this,  the  sublimest 

of  truths : 

THE     UNIVERSE    IS    GOVERNED    BY    LAW. 


128 


HERE  ENDETH  THE  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  THE  HOME 
OF  HUMBOLDT,  AS  WRITTEN  BY  ELBERT  HUBBARD. 
THE  BORDERS,  INITIALS  AND  ORNAMENTS  DESIGNED 
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JUST  OUT  OF  THE  BINDERY 

The  Story  of 

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ever else  He  do  or  for- 
bear, teach  us  to  look 
facts  honestly  in  the  face,  and  to 
beware  (with  a  kind  of  shudder) 
of  smearing  them  over  with  our 
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it  is  the  most  accursed  sin  of  man; 
and  done  everywhere,  at  present, 
on  the  streets  and  high  places  at 
noonday!  Very  seriously  I  say, 
and  pray  as  my  chief  orison,  May 
the  Lord  deliver  us  from  Cant! 

CARL     Y    L     E 


1X^ 


vol.  xvi  MAY,  1905 


No.  5 


fttle  Journeys 


Co  Homes  of  <§reat  Scientists! 

By    EL  BERT    HUBBARD 


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LITTLE  JOURNEYS  BY  ELBERT  HUBBARD,  FOR 
1905  WILL  BE  TO  THE  HOMES  OF  GREAT  SCIEN- 
TISTS, AND  THE  SUBJECTS  ARE  AS  FOLLOWS: 


Copernicus 

Galileo 

Sir  Isaac  Newton 

Humboldt 

Sir  Wm.  H.  Herschel 

Charles  R.  Darwin 


Ernst  Haeckel 
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Thomas  H.  Huxley 
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JUST  OUT  OF  THE  BINDERY 


The  Story  of 

Rip  Van  Winkle 

by  WASHINGTON  IRVING 

With  a  preface  by  JOSEPH  JEFFERSON, 
telling  how  he  became  interested  in  the  play 


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EDITOR  BROWNE 

Of    The    Rockford    Morning    Star. 


"  About  seven  years  ago  I  ceased  drinking  coffee  to  give  your  Postura 
a  trial. 

"  I  had  suffered  acutely  from  various  forms  of  indigestion  and  my 
stomach  had  become  so  disordered  as  to  repel  almost  every  sort  of  sub- 
stantial food.  My  general  health  was  bad.  At  close  intervals  I  would 
suffer  severe  attacks  which  confined  me  in  bed  for  a  week  or  more. 
Soon  after  changing  from. coffee  to  Postum  the  indigestion  abated,  and 
in  a  short  time  ceased  entirely.  I  have  continued  the  daily  use  of  your 
excellent  Food  Coffee  and  assure  you  most  cordially  that  I  am  indel 
to  you  for  the  relief  it  has  brought  me. 

**  Wishing  you  a  continued  success,  I  am 

Yours  very  truly, 

J.  Stanley  Browne, 

Managing  Editor." 

Of  course,  when  a  man's  health  shows  he  can  stand  coffee  without 
trouble,  let  him  drink  it,  but  most  highly  organized  brain-workers 
simply  cannot. 

The  drugs  natural  to  the  coffee  berry  affect  the  stomach  and  other 
organs  and  thence  to  the  complex  nervous  system,  throwing  it  out  of 
balance  and  producing  disorders  in  various  parts  of  the  body.  Keep  up 
this  daily  poisoning  and  serious  disease  is  sure  to  supervene.  So  when 
man  or  woman  finds  that  coffee  is  a  smooth  but  deadly  enemy  and 
health  is  of  any  value  at  all,  there  is  but  one  road — quit. 

It  is  easy  to  find  out  if  coffee  be  the  cause  of  the  troubles,  for  if  left 
off  10  days  and  Postum  be  used  in  its  place  and  the  sick  and  diseased 
conditions  begin  to  disappear,  the  proof  is  unanswerable. 

Postum  is  not  good  if  made  by  short  boiling.  It  must  be  boiled  full  15 
minutes  when  the  crisp  coffee  flavor  and  the  food  elements  are  brought 
out  of  the  grains  and  the  beverage  is  ready  to  fulfill  its  mission  of  pal- 
atable comfort  and  renewing  the  cells  and  nerve  centres  broken  down 
by  coffee. 

*'  There  's  a  reason." 

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'll«» 

L  I  T  T  L  E  to 
JOURNEYS 

TO  HOMES 
OF  GREAT 
SCIENTISTS 


WRITTEN  BY  ELBERT 
HUBBARD  AND  DONE 
INTO  BOOK  FORM  BY 
THE  ROYCROFTERSAT 
THEIR  SHOP,  WHICH 
IS  IN  EAST  AURORA, 
NEW  YORK,  A.D.  MCMV 


SIR    WILLIAM    HERSCHEL 


H  e  r  s  c  h  e  I 


HE  great  number  of  alterations  of  stars  that  we  are  certain  have 
happened  within  the  last  two  centuries,  and  the  much  greater 
number  that  we  have  reason  to  suspect  to  have  taken  place, 
are  curious  features  in  the  history  of  the  heavens,  as  curious  as  the 
slow  wearing  away  of  the  landmarks  of  our  earth  on  mountains,  on 
river  banks,  on  ocean  shores.  If  we  consider  how  little  attention  has 
formerly  been  paid  to  this  subject,  and  that  most  of  the  observations 
we  have  are  of  a  very  late  date,  it  would  perhaps  not  appear  extra- 
ordinary were  we  to  admit  the  number  of  alterations,  that  have  prob- 
ably happened  to  different  stars,  within  our  own  time,  to  be  a  hundred. 

—WILLIAM  HERSCHEL. 


E    R    S    C    H    E    L 

'ILLIAM  HERSCHEL,  born  in  the  city 
of  Hanover,  in  1738,  was  the  fourth  child 
in  a  family  of  ten.  Big  families,  I  am  told, 
usually  live  in  little  houses,  while  little 
families  live  in  big  houses.  The  Hersch- 
els  were  no  exception  to  the  rule. 
Isaac  Herschel,  known  to  the  world  as 
being  the  father  of  his  son,  was  a  poor 
man,  depending  for  support  upon  his 
meagre  salary  as  band-master  to  a  regi- 
ment of  the  Hanoverian  Guards.  At  the 
garrison  school,  taught  by  a  retired  cap- 
tain, "William  easily  was  the  star  scholar. 
In  mathematics  he  propounded  problems 
that  made  the  worthy  captain  pooh-pooh 
and  change  the  subject. 
At  fourteen  he  was  playing  a  hautboy  in 
his  father's  band  and  practicing  on  the 
violin  at  spare  times.  For  music  he  had 
a  veritable  passion,  and  to  have  a  pas- 
sion for  a  thing  means  that  you  excel  in 
it — excellence  is  a  matter  of  intensity. 
QOne  of  the  players  in  the  band  was  a 
Frenchman,  and  William  made  an  ar- 
rangement to  give  the  "  parle  vous  "  les- 
sons on  the  violin  as  payment  for  lessons 
in  French  jfi  Jt> 

This  whole  brood  of  Herschel  children 

129 


LITTLE     was  musical,  and  very  early  the  young  Herschels  be- 
JOURNEYS     came  self-supporting  as  singers  or  players.  "It  is  the 
only  thing  they  can  do,"  their  father  said.  But  his 
loins  were  wiser  than  his  head. 

In  1755  "William  accompanied  his  father's  band  to 
England,  where  they  went  to  take  part  in  a  demon- 
stration in  honor  of  a  Hanoverian,  one  George  III., 
who  later  was  to  play  a  necessary  part  in  a  symphony 
that  was  to  edify  the  American  Colonies.  America 
owes  much  to  George  III. 

Young  Herschel  had  already  learned  to  speak  English, 
just  as  he  had  learned  French.  In  England  he  spent 
all  the  money  he  had  for  three  volumes  of  "Locke  on 
the  Human  Understanding."  These  books  were  to  re- 
main his  lifelong  possession  and  to  be  passed  on,  well- 
thumbed,  to  his  son  over  half  a  century  later. 
William  Herschel  was  nineteen  on  the  breaking  out 
of  the  Seven  Years'  War.  His  regiment  had  been 
ordered  to  march  in  a  week.  Here  was  a  pivotal  point 
— should  he  go  and  fight  for  the  glory  of  Prussia? 
Not  he — by  the  connivance  of  his  mother  and  sisters, 
he  was  secreted  on  a  trading  sloop  bound  for  England. 
Q  This  is  what  is  called  desertion;  and  just  how  the 
young  man  evaded  the  penalties,  since  the  King  of 
England  was  also  Elector  of  Hanover,  I  do  not  know, 
but  the  House  of  Hanover  made  no  effort  toward  pun- 
ishment of  the  culprit,  even  when  the  facts  were 
known.  Perhaps  musicians  of  quality  were  needed  in 
England;  and  as  sheep-stealing  is  looked  upon  lightly 
by  priests  who  love  mutton,  so  do  kings  forgive  infrac- 
130 


tions  if  they  need  the  man.  Q  When  'William  Herschel     LITTLE 
landed  at  Dover  he  had  in  his  pocket  a  single  crown     JOURNEYS 
piece,  and  his  luggage  consisted  of  the  clothes  he  wore 
and  a  violin. 

The  violin  secured  him  board  and  lodging  along  the 
road  as  he  walked  to  London,  just  as  Oliver  Gold- 
smith paid  his  way  with  a  similar  legal  tender. 
In  London   Herschel's  musical  skill  quickly  got  him 
an  engagement  at  one  of  the  theatres. 
In  a  few  months  we  hear  of  his  playing  solos  at  Bra- 
bandt's  aristocratic  concerts. 

Little  journeys  were  taken  by  the  orchestra  to  which 
Herschel  belonged  in  "the  provinces."  Among  other 
places   visited  was    Bath,   and  here  the  troupe   was 
booked  for  a  two-weeks'  engagement. 
At  this  time  Bath  was  run  wide  open. 
Bath  was   a  rendezvous  for  the  gouty  dignitaries  of 
Church  and  State  who  had  grown  swag  through  sloth 
and  much  travel  by  the  gorge  route. 
There  were  ministers  of  state,  soldiers,  admirals-of- 
the-sea,   promoters,   preachers,   philosophers,   poets, 
players,   polite   gamblers   and  buffoons.   They   idled, 
fiddled,  danced,  gabbled,  gadded  and  gossiped.  The 
School  for  Scandal  was  written  on  the  spot  with  mod- 
els drawn  from  life.  It  wasn't  a  play — it  was  a  cross- 
section  of  Bath  society. 

Bath  was  a  clearing-house  for  the  wit,  learning  and 
folly  of  all  England — the  combined  Hot  Springs,  Coney 
Island,  Saratoga  and  Old  Point  Comfort  of  the  King- 
dom. The  most  costly  church  of  its  size  in  America  is 

131 


LITTLE     at  St.  Augustine,  Florida.  The  repentant  ones  patron- 
JOURNEYS     ize  it  in  Lent,  the  rest  of  the  year  it  is  closed. 

At  Bath  there  was  the  Octagon  Chapel  with  the  best 
pipe  organ  in  England.  Herschel  played  the  organ — 
where  he  learned  how  nobody  knew — he  himself  did 
not  know.  But  playing  musical  instruments  is  a  little 
like  learning  a  new  language.  A  man  who  speaks  three 
languages  can  take  a  day  off  and  learn  a  fourth  almost 
any  time.  Somebody  has  said  that  there  is  really  only 
one  language,  and  most  of  us  have  only  a  dialect. 
Acquire  three  languages  and  you  perceive  that  there 
is  a  universal  basis  upon  which  the  various  tongues 
are  built. 

Herschel  could  play  the  hautboy,  the  harpsichord  and 
the  violin.  The  organ  came  easy.  "When  he  played  the 
organ  in  the  Chapel  at  Bath,  fair  ladies  forgot  the 
Pump  Room,  and  the  gallants  followed  them — natu- 
rally. Herschel  became  the  rage.  He  was  a  handsome 
fellow,  with  a  pride  so  supreme  that  it  completed  the 
circle,  and  people  called  it  humility.  He  talked  but 
little,  and  made  himself  scarce — a  point  every  genius 
should  ponder  well.  The  disarming  of  the  populace — 
confiscating  canes,  umbrellas  and  parasols — before  al- 
lowing people  to  enter  an  art  gallery  is  necessary;  al- 
though it  is  a  peculiar  comment  on  humanity  to- 
think  people  have  a  tendency  to  smite,  punch,  prod  and 
poke  beautiful  things.  The  same  propensity  manifests 
itself  in  wishing  to  fumble  a  genius.  Get  your  coarse 
hands  on  Richard  Mansfield  if  you  can!  Corral  Maude 
Adams — hardly.  To  do  big  things,  to  create — breaks 
132 


down  tissue  awfully,  and  to  mix  it  with  society  and      LITTLE 
still  do  big  things  for  society  is  impossible.  JOURNEYS 

At  Bath,  Herschel  was  never  seen  in  the  Pump  Room, 
nor  on  the  North  Parade.  People  who  saw  him,  paid 
for  the  privilege.  "In  England  about  this  time  look 
out  for  a  shower  of  genius,"  the  almanackers  might 
have  said. 

To  Bath  came  two  Irishmen,  Edmund  Burke  and 
Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan.  Burke  rented  rooms  of  the 
worthy  Doctor  Nugent,  and  married  the  doctor's 
daughter,  and  never  regretted  it. 

Sheridan  also  married  a  Bath  girl,  but  added  the  right 
touch  of  romance  by  keeping  the  matter  secret,  with 
the  intent  that  if  either  party  wished  to  back  out  of 
the  agreement  it  would  be  allowed.  This  was  quite 
Irish-like,  since  according  to  English  Law  a  marriage 
is  a  marriage  until  Limbus  congeals  and  is  used  for  a 
skating  rink. 

'With  the  true  spirit  of  chivalry,  Richard  Brinsley 
Sheridan  left  the  questions  of  publicity  or  secrecy  to 
his  wife — she  could  have  her  freedom  if  she  wished. 
He  was  a  fledgeling  barrister,  with  his  future  in  front 
of  him,  the  child  of  "strolling  players";  she,  the 
beautiful  Miss  Linlay,  was  a  singer  of  note.  Her  father 
was  leader  of  the  Bath  Orchestra,  and  had  a  School 
of  Oratory  where  young  people  agitated  the  atmos- 
phere in  orotund  and  tremolo  and  made  the  ether  vi- 
brate in  glee.  Dr.  Linlay 's  daughter  was  his  finest 
pupil,  and  with  her  all  of  his  theories  concerning  the 
Sixteen  Perspective  Laws  of  Art  were  elucidated. 

133 


LITTLE  She  also  proved  a  few  points  in  stirpiculture.  She  was 
JOURNEYS  a  most  beautiful  girl  of  seventeen  when  Sheridan  led 
her  to  the  altar,  or  I  should  say  to  a  Dissenting  Par- 
son's back  door  by  night.  She  could  sing,  recite,  act, 
and  impersonate  in  pantomime  and  Greek  gown,  the 
passions  of  Fear,  Hate,  Supplication,  Horror,  Re- 
venge, Jealousy,  Rage  and  Faith. 

Romney  moved  down  to  Bath  just  so  as  to  have  Miss 
Linlay  and  Lady  Hamilton  for  models.  He  posed  Miss 
Linlay  as  the  Madonna,  Beulah,  Rena,  Ruth,  Miriam 
and  Cecilia;  and  Lady  Hamilton  for  Susannah  at  the 
Bath,  Alicia  and  Andromache,  and  also  had  her  illus- 
trate the  Virtues,  Graces,  Fates,  and  Passions. 
When  the  beautiful  Miss  Linlay,  the  pride  and  pet  of 
Bath,  got  ready  to  announce  her  marriage,  she  did  it 
by  simply  changing  the  inscription  beneath  a  Romney 
portrait  that  hung  in  the  ante-room  of  the  artist's 
studio,  marking  out  the  words  "Miss  Linlay,"  and 
writing  over  it  "Mrs.  Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan." 
QThe  Bath  porchers  who  looked  after  other  people's 
business,  having  none  of  their  own,  burbled  and  chor- 
tled like  siphons  of  soda,  and  the  marvel  to  all  was 
that  such  a  brilliant  girl  should  thus  throw  herself 
away  on  a  sprig  of  the  law.  "He  acts,  too,  I  believe," 
said  Goldsmith  to  Dr.  Johnson.  And  Dr.  Johnson  said, 
"Sir,  he  does  nothing  else,"  thus  anticipating  James 
McNeill  Whistler  by  over  a  hundred  years. 
But  alas  for  the  luckless  Linlay,  the  Delsarte  of  his  day, 
poor  man !  he  used  words  not  to  be  found  in  Johnson's 
Dictionary,  and  outdid  Cassius  in  the  quarrel  scene 
134 


to  the  Brutus  of  Richard  Brinsley.  QBut  soon  things      LITTLE 
settled  down — they  always  do  when  mixed  with  time     JOURNEYS 
— and  all  were  happy,  or  reasonably  so,  forever  after. 
QHerschel  resigned  from  Brabandt's  Orchestra  and 
remained  in  Bath.  He  taught  music,  played  the  organ, 
became  first  violinist  for  Professor  Linlay  and  later  led 
the  orchestra  when  Linlay  was  on  the  road  starring 
the  one-night  stands  and  his  beautiful  daughter. 
Things  seemed  to  prosper  with  the  kindly  and  talented 
German.  He  was  reserved,  intellectual,  and  was  re- 
spected by  the  best.  He  was  making  money — not  as 
London  brokers  might  count  money,  but  prosperous 
for  a  music  teacher. 

And  so  there  came  a  day  when  he  bought  out  the 
school  of  Professor  Linlay,  and  became  proprietor 
and  leader  of  the  famous  Bath  Orchestra. 
But  the  talented  Mrs.  Brinsley  Linlay  Sheridan  was 
sorely  missed — a  woman  soloist  of  worth  was  needed. 
QHerschel  thought  and  pondered.  He  tried  candi- 
dates from  London  and  a  few  from  Paris.  Some  had 
voices,  but  no  intellect.  A  very  few  had  intellect,  but 
were  without  voice.  Some  thought  they  had  a  voice 
when  what  they  had  was  a  disease.  Other  voices  he 
tried  and  found  guilty.  Those  who  had  voice  and 
spirit  had  tempers  like  a  tornado. 

Herschel  decided  to  educate  a  soloist  and  assistant. 
To  marry  a  woman  for  the  sake  of  educating  her  was 
risky  business — he  knew  of  men  who  had  tried  it — for 
men  have  tried  it  since  the  time  of  the  Cave-Men. 
Q  A  bright  thought  came  to  him!  He  would  go  back  to 

135 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


Deutschland  and  get  one  of  his  sisters,  and  bring  her 
over  to  England  to  help  him  in  his  work. 


was  a  most  fortunate  stroke  for  Herschel 
when  he  -went  back  home  to  get  one  of 
his  sisters  to  come  over  into  Macedonia 
and  help  him.  No  man  ever  did  a  great 
work  unless  backed  up  by  a  good  woman. 
There  were  five  of  these  Herschel  girls — 
three  were  married,  so  they  were  out  of  the  question, 
and  one  was  engaged.  This  left  Caroline  as  first,  last 
and  only  choice.  Caroline  was  twenty-two,  and  could 
sing  a  little.  She  had  appeared  in  concerts  for  her 
father  when  a  child.  But  when  the  father  died  the 
girl  was  set  to  work  in  a  millinery  and  dressmaking 
shop,  to  help  support  the  big  family.  The  mother  didn't 
believe  that  women  should  be  educated — it  unfitted 
them  for  domesticity,  and  to  speak  of  a  woman  as  ed- 
ucated was  to  suggest  that  she  was  a  poor  house- 
keeper. In  Greece  of  old,  educated  women  were 
spoken  of  as  "companions" — and  this  meant  that 
they  were  not  what  you  call  respectable.  They  were 
the  intellectual  companions  of  men.  The  Greek  term 
of  disrespect  carried  with  it  a  trifle  of  a  suggestion  not 
intended;  i.  e.,  that  'women  who  were  not  educated — 
not  intellectual — 'were  really  not  companionable — but 
let  that  pass. 

It  is  curious  how  this  idea  that  a  woman  is  only  a 
scullion  and  a   drudge   has   permeated   society  until 
136 


even  the  women  themselves  partake  of  the  prejudice      LITTLE 
against  themselves.  JOURNEYS 

Mother  Herschel  didn't  want  her  daughters  to  be- 
come educated,  nor  study  the  science  of  music  nor 
the  science  of  anything.  A  goodly  grocer  of  the  Dutch 
School  had  been  picked  out  as  a  husband  for  Caro- 
line, and  now  if  she  went  away  her  prospects  were 
ruined — ach,  mein  Gott!  or  words  to  that  effect.  And 
it  was  only  on  William's  promise  to  pay  the  mother  a 
weekly  sum  equal  to  the  wages  that  Caroline  received 
in  the  dressmaking  shop  that  she  gave  consent  to  her 
daughter's  going. 

Caroline  arrived  in  England  wearing  wooden  shoon 
and  hoops  that  were  exceeding  Dutch,  but  "without  a 
word  of  English.  In  order  to  be  of  positive  use  to  her 
brother,  she  must  acquire  English  and  be  able  to  sing, 
not  only  sing  well,  but  remarkably  well. 
In  less  than  a  year  she  was  singing  solo  parts  at  her 
brother's  concerts  to  the  great  delight  of  the  aristo- 
crats of  Bath.  They  heard  her  sing,  but  they  did  not 
take  her  captive  and  submerge  her  in  their  fashion- 
able follies  as  they  would  have  liked  to  do. 
The  sister  and  brother  kept  close  to  their  own  rooms. 
Caroline  was  the  housekeeper,  and  took  a  pride  in 
being  able  to  dispense  with  all  outside  help.  She  was 
small  in  figure,  petite,  face  plain  but  full  of  animation. 
QA11  of  her  spare  time  she  devoted  to  her  music. 
After  the  concerts  she  and  her  brother  would  leave 
the  theatre,  change  their  clothes  and  then  walk  off  into 
the  country,  getting  back  at  one  or  two  o'clock  in  the 

137 


LITTLE  morning.  On  these  midnight  walks  they  used  to  study 
JOURNEYS  the  stars  and  talk  of  the  wonderful  work  of  Kepler 
and  Copernicus.  There  were  various  requests  that 
Caroline  should  go  to  London  and  sing,  but  she  stead- 
fastly refused  to  appear  on  a  stage  excepting  where 
her  brother  led  the  orchestra. 

About  this  time  Caroline  wrote  a  letter  home,  which 
missive,  by  the  way,  is  still  in  existence,  wherein  she 
says:  "William  goes  to  bed  early  when  there  are  no 
concerts  or  rehearsals.  He  has  a  bowl  of  milk  on  the 
standbesidehim,  andhe  reads  Smith's*  Harmonics'  and 
Ferguson's  Astronomy.'  I  sit  sewing  in  the  next  room 
and  occasionally  he  will  call  to  me  to  listen  while  he 
reads  some  passage  that  most  pleases  him.  So  he 
goes  to  sleep  buried  beneath  his  favorite  authors,  and 
his  first  thought  in  the  morning  is  how  to  obtain  instru- 
ments so  we  can  study  the  harmonics  of  the  sky." 
And  a  way  was  to  open — they  were  to  make  their  own 
telescope — what  larks !  Brother  and  sister  set  to  work 
studying  the  law  of  optics.  In  a  second-hand  store 
they  found  a  small  Gregorian  reflector  with  an  aper- 
ture of  about  two  inches. 

This  gave  them  a  little  peep  into  the  heavens,  but  was 
really  only  a  tantalization.  They  set  to  work  making 
a  telescope  tube  out  of  pasteboard.  It  was  eighteen 
feet  long,  and  the  "board"  was  made  in  the  genuine 
pasteboard  way — by  pasting  sheet  after  sheet  of  paper 
together  until  the  substance  was  as  thick  and  solid  as 
a  board. 

So  this  brother  and  sister  worked  at  all  odd  hours 
138 


pasting   sheet   after   sheet  of  paper — old  letters,  old     LITTLE 
books — with  occasional  strips  of  cloth  laid  in  to  give     JOURNEYS 
extra  strength.  The  tube  was  eighteen  feet  long.  Lenses 
•were  procured  in  London  and  at  last   our  precious 
musical  pair,  with  astronomy  for  their  fad,  had  the 
satisfaction  of  getting  a  view  of  Saturn  that  showed 
the  rings. 

It  need  not  be  explained  that  astronomical  observations 
must  be  made  out-of-doors.  Further,  the  whole  tele- 
scope must  be  out-of-doors  so  to  get  an  even  temper- 
ature. This  is  a  fact  that  the  excellent  astronomers  of 
the  Mikado  of  Japan  did  not  know  until  very  recently. 
It  seems  they  constructed  a  costly  telescope  and 
housed  it  in  a  costly  observatory  house,  with  an  aper- 
ture barely  large  enough  for  the  big  telescope  to  be 
pointed  out  at  the  heavens.  Inside,  the  astronomer  had 
a  comfortable  fire,  for  the  season  was  winter  and  the 
weather  cold.  But  the  wise  man  could  see  nothing  and 
the  belief  was  getting  abroad  that  the  machine  was 
bewitched,  or  that  their  Yankee  brothers  had  lawson- 
ized  the  buyers,  when  our  own  David  P.  Todd,  of 
Amherst,  happened  along  and  informed  them  that  the 
heat  waves  which  arose  from  their  warm  room  caused 
a  perturbation  in  the  atmosphere  which  made  star- 
gazing impossible.  At  once  they  made  their  house  over, 
with  openings  so  as  to  insure  an  even  temperature  and 
Prince  Fusiyama  Noguchi  wrote  to  Professor  Todd, 
making  him  a  Knight  of  the  Golden  Dragon  on  special 
order  of  the  heaven-born  Mikado. 

The  Herschels  knew  enough  of  the  laws  of  heat  and 

139 


LITTLE     refraction  to  realize  that  they  must  have  an  even  tem- 

JOURNEYS     perature,  but  they  forgot  that  pasteboard  was  porous. 

So  one  night  they  left  their  telescope  out-of-doors,  and 

a  sudden  shower  transformed  the  straight  tube  into 

the  arc  of  a  circle. 

All  attempts  to  straighten  it  were  vain,  so  they  took  out 
the  lenses  and  went  to  work  making  a  tube  of  copper. 
In  this,  brother,  sister  and  genius — which  is  concentra- 
tion and  perseverance — united  to  overcome  the  innate 
meanness  of  animate  and  inanimate  things.  A  failure 
was  not  a  failure  to  them — it  was  an  opportunity  to 
meet  a  difficulty  and  overcome  it. 

The  partial  success  of  the  new  telescope  aroused  the 
brother  and  sister  to  fresh  exertions.  The  work  had 
been  begun  as  a  mere  recreation — a  rest  from  the  ex- 
actions of  the  public  which  they  diverted  and  amused 
with  their  warblings,  concussions  and  vibrations. 
They  were  still  amateur  astronomers  and  the  thought 
that  they  would  ever  be  anything  else  had  not  come 
to  them.  But  they  wanted  a  better  view  of  the  heavens 
— a  view  through  a  Newtonian  reflecting  telescope. 
So  they  counted  up  their  savings  and  decided  that  if 
they  could  get  some  instrument  maker  in  London  to 
make  them  a  reflecting  telescope  six  feet  long,  they 
•would  be  willing  to  pay  him  fifty  pounds  for  it. 
This  study  of  the  skies  was  their  only  form  of  dissi- 
pation, and  even  if  it  was  a  little  expensive  it  enabled 
them  to  escape  the  Pump-Room  rabble  and  flee  bore- 
dom and  introspection. 

A  hunt  was  taken  through  London,  but  no  one  could 
140 


A  Little  Journey   to    the 
Home  of  Elbert  Hubbard 


By    TERENCE 


POWDERLY 


HE  conductor  shouted:  "All  out  for  East 
Aurora!" 

And  he  told  the  truth,  for  everybody  got  out 
and  the  train  went  off  in  a  lonesome,  re- 
gretful kind  of  a  way.  The  conductor  and 
train-hands  wished  they  could  stop  off,  too, 
but  they  were  on  the  run  and  could  n't. 
looked  around  for  some  one  to  tell  me  where  to  find 
Elbert  Hubbard,  and  a  young  man  dressed  in  a  little 
brief  authority  and  a  suit  of  overalls,  wearing  a  Roycroft 
badge  and  a  welcoming  grin  asked,  "GoingtoRoycroft?" 
I  said  "Yes,"  and  he  separated  me  from  my  satchel  and 
umbrella,  gave  me  a  hearty  hand-shake  and  told  me  to 
walk  straight  ahead  and  I  could  n't  miss  it. 
Were  you  ever  in  East  Aurora?  No, then  you  Ve  missed 
a  lot.  It  is  not  a  paradise,  but  would  make  a  first-class 
vestibule  for  one.  Trees,  old  trees  with  rugged  trunks  and 
wide-spreading  limbs,  line  the  walks,  and  every  tree  nods 
and  whispers  a  thousand  welcomes  from  among  the 
leaves  that  hide  the  sun  of  an  August  day  from  view. 
QThe  walk  from  the  station  to  the  Phalansterie  may  be 
a  mile,  a  half-mile,  or  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  more  or  less, 
but  you  don't  notice  the  length  of  it  while  eagerly  push- 
ing forward  to  see  the  place  where  the  most  wonderful- 
of  books  and  the  quaintest  of  furniture  are  made.  You 
meet  men,  women  and  children  as  you  walk  along,  you 
don't  know  them  from  Adam,  but  they  all  say  a  kind 
word,  or  smile  approvingly  as  you  pass. 
When  I  was  a  child  1  knew  an  old  German  woman  who 
lived  down  where  the  woods  had  been  cleared  away  to 


make  room  for  houses.  She  was  our  next  door  neigh- 
bor and  boylike,  I  could  be  found  at  her  house  when  I 
should  have  been  at  home.  She  grew  flowers  all  round 
the  house.  They  crept  up  the  porch  and  sent  their  per- 
fume thru  the  door  with  you  as  you  entered.  They 
peeped  in  the  windows  and  climbed  the  fence  to  meet 
and  welcome  you,  johnny-jump-ups,  four-o'clocks, 
dahlias,  fox-gloves,  harebells,  phlox,  larkspurs,  scores  of 
others  and  nasturtiums.  The  nasturtiums  she  grew  were 
tinted  with  all  the  hues  of  a  glorious  sunset,  and  thru 
the  long  years  that  stretch  between  that  far-away  time 
and  now,  I  can  see  the  silvery  leaves  and  catch  the  odor 
of  the  blossoms. 

I  asked  no  one  where  the  Roycroft  Shops  were,  and  when 
I  came  upon  them  did  not  see  them  for  a  long  time.  A 
low,  well-built  stone  wall  runs  around  Roycroftie,  and 
along  that  wall,  over  it,  caressing  it,  shielding  and  com- 
muning with  it  were  the  brilliant-hued,  never-forgotten 
companions  of  the  days  when  cut-down  breeches,  rav- 
elled stitches  and  misplaced  switches  (as  I  then  regarded 
them)  were  new  to  me.  Extending  a  welcome  in  red  and 
yellow,  green  and  gold,  the  nasturtiums  pointed  the  way 
to  the  "  Chapel  "  where  I  saw  other  pilgrims  standing, 
chatting  and  listening. 

When  a  church  or  chapel  comes  to  view  one  instinctively 
sobers  down  into  a  feeling  of  reverential  calm.  I  do  any- 
way, and  the  Roycroft  Chapel,  beautiful  in  its  homelike 
exterior  and  grand  in  its  simplicity,  acknowledged  the 
introduction  of  the  nasturtiums  as  I  entered.  Erected  by 
•willing,  well-trained  hands  and  dedicated  to  the  service 
of  God  thru  helping  Man,  the  Chapel  is  not  unlike 
others  I  have  seen.  It  is,  however,  open  to  all.  Turk, 
Jew  and  Atheist  may  touch  elbows  with  the  Catholic, 
Presbyterian  and  Methodist  without  feeling  that  any  of 
the  powder  of  piety  has  been  rubbed  off.  God  does  His 
best  work  thru  the  best  of  all  His  instruments,  and 
ii 


in  this  Chapel  the  work  of  man  cheers  the  eye,  pleases 
the  senses  and  makes  one  feel  that  he  is  in  the  house  of 
God,  because  the  place  is  dedicated  to  His  children. 
Made  by  man,  for  man  and  open  to  mankind  "of  all  de- 
scriptions "  you  feel  at  home  the  moment  you  enter  it. 
Pictures  around  the  walls,  roomy  seats  that  do  not  give 
you  a  taste  of  the  "sweet  ultimately"  by  cramping  your 
knees  up  against  your  chin,  pleasant-faced  people  who 
laugh  and  talk  out  loud,  you  find  in  this  Chapel.  You  find 
just  such  people  in  other  chapels  but  somehow  or  other 
they  do  not  laugh  there.  You  will  see  and  hear  men  and 
women  weep  in  church,  speak  no  word  above  a  whisper 
there,  and  yet  people  do  not  go  there  for  trouble,  they 
do  not  go  there  to  whisper  or  cry,  to  seek  sorrow  or 
grief.  They  go  there  to  be  real,  to  find  rest,  peace  and 
happiness,  but  do  not  give  audible  expression  to  their 
happiness  in  a  laugh. 

Man  made  the  church,  God  made  man  and  the  trees;  in 
church  man  may  not  laugh  aloud  but  under  the  grand, 
wonderful  trees  which  God  spreads  above  us  we  may 
laugh,  sing  and  do  what  we  will  so  long  as  it  is  not  of- 
fensive to  God  or  our  neighbor.  But  bless  me!  I  am  mor- 
alizing, and  that  won't  do. 

Leaving  the  Chapel  I  sought  Hubbard  and  found  him 
standing  beneath  the  bell  that  summons  the  faithful  to 
lectures  and  concerts.  He  was  dressed  in  a  suit  of  over- 
alls and  looked  the  sympathetic,  soulful  man  he  is.   He 
said :  "Hello,  Terence,  glad  you  came." 
I  remarked:  "Glad  to  find  you  dressed  up  for  com- 
pany," and  then  he  said,  "I  will  have  you  in  a  suit  like 
this  before  you  are  here  very  long." 
That  was  the  meeting  and  the  greeting. 
After  a  lecture  on  what  to  eat  and  how  to  eat,  I  went  to 
eat — at  the  Phalansterie.  Young  women  who  did  artistic 
work  in  the  Roycroft  Shop  week-days  and  sang  in  the 
Chapel  on  Sundays  waited  on  the  table  every  day.  Ev- 

iii 


erybody  knew  every  one  else  tho  they  had  never  met 
before.  You  just  took  your  seat  where  your  fancy  or  the 
waitress  suggested,  and  began  a  course  of  physical  culture 
among  the  well-filled  dishes.  Turn  to  the  left  or  right  and 
begin  a  talk  on  politics,  religion,  socialism,  finance, 
forestry,  botany,  bugology  or  burglary,  and  your  neigh- 
bor knew  how  to  answer  you.  No  frills,  no  restraint. 
QI  was  there  several  days — the  time  was  all  too  short. 
There  was  no  starch,  no  fuss  and  feathers,  no  ostentation, 
no  pomp  or  ceremony.  That  conference  acted  like  one 
great  family  coming  home  from  many  parts  to  attend  a 
reunion.  Surely  there  must  be  something  in  the  Philis- 
tine habit,  once  acquired,  that  brings  strangers  into  close 
touch  as  friends  without  the  formality  of  an  introduction. 
Q  There  were  Philistines  there  from  everywhere,  and 
royal  good  fellows  they  were.  Many  of  the  Roycrofters 
are  women,  and  they  were  well  and  handsomely  repre- 
sented at  that  conference. 

East  Aurora  is  not  a  drinking  town,  but  it  was  full  the 
day  I  got  there,  and  Mr.  Hubbard  took  me  beneath  his 
roof,  as  his  guest  during  my  stay.  He  just  took  me  to  my 
room,  pushed  open  the  door  and  said:  "This  is  yours 
while  you  are  here,  you  may  come  when  you  get  ready, 
go  when  you  please,  do  as  you  please,  get  up  in  time  for 
breakfast  at  the  Phalansterie — if  you  want  to — no  doors 
are  locked  here  so  you  need  not  hurry  home  nights." 
Q  I  stayed  there  four  or  five  days,  and  by  the  second 
day  a  feeling  of  honesty  began  to  steal  over  me.  I  found 
myself  leaving  that  room  without  even  closing  my  satchel. 
Hubbard  has  not  advertised  for  any  of  his  personal 
property  since  I  left,  and  that  speaks  well  for  me. 
Marshall  P.  Wilder  was  there,  too.  He  is  the  biggest  little 
man  in  the  country.  Hubbard  did  n't  know  but  that  it 
might  rain  or  be  cloudy  part  of  the  time  during  the  con- 
ference, and  he  brought  Wilder  there  to  take  the  place 
of  the  sunshine, 
iv 


He  is  just  a  lump  of  concentrated  sunshine.  Wilder  is 
not  very  tall  lengthwise,  but  he  is  tall  enough  crosswise 
to  make  up  for  it  and  he  is  fun  all  the  way  'round. 
You  don't  laugh  at  Wilder,  you  laugh  with  him.  All  his 
jokes  are  not  new,  either,  but  he  hands  out  a  new  laugh 
with  every  one  of  them.  You  don't  always  get  the  best 
time  out  of  the  watch  with  the  biggest  case,  but  you  can 
always  count  on  having  a  good  time  with  Marshall  P. 
Wilder. 

You  ask  what  is  Elbert  Hubbard  doing,  is  he  in  earnest, 
what  does  he  propose  to  do?  I  don't  know  that  I  can  an- 
swer you — on  second  thought  I  know  I  cannot.  Hubbard  is 
doing  a  noble  work.  He  is  making  a  community  of  artists 
of  those  who  grow  up  in  East  Aurora  and  they  are, 
thru  their  work,  inspiring  the  rest  of  the  world  to  do 
likewise.  Those  who  do  things  in  the  Roycroft  Shops  put 
part  of  themselves  into  their  product,  and  when  the  last 
finishing  touch  is  imparted  the  worker  sends  out  a  bless- 
ing with  his  work  and  with  it  the  wish  that  it  may  bring 
peace  and  happiness  to  "whomsoever  these  presents  may 
come." 

4 Ms  he  in  earnest?"  Look  into  that  handsome,  thought- 
ful face,  read  his  eye  and  you  will  find  nothing  but 
earnestness  there.  He  makes  books  that  appear  as 
heaven's  messengers  in  this  commonplace  world  of  ours. 
Beauty,  art,  joy,  gladness,  satisfaction  are  all  bound  be- 
tween the  covers  of  Elbert  Hubbard's  books.  Don't  ask 
me  to  describe  them,  I  cannot.  Send  for  one,  any  one, 
read  it,  examine  it,and  you  will  realize  that  there  is  nothing 
quite  like  it  anywhere.  Its  touch  brings  satisfaction,  its 
language  is  simple  but  beautiful,  and  here  let  me  remark 
that  the  simpler  a  man  writes  the  less  will  he  have  to  con- 
sult the  dictionary. 

Hubbard  is  not  proposing  to  do  anything,  that  I  know  of, 
he  just  goes  ahead  and  does  it,  whatever  it  is.  He  is 
teaching  men  and  women,  boys  and  girls,  to  do  things 


instead  of  each  other.  He  makes  furniture  as  well  as 
books,  and  when  you  see  it  you  want  to  sit  on  it  if  it  is  a 
bench,  or  eat  from  it  if  it  is  a  table.  Everything  made  here 
speaks  of  home,  not  the  studied,  fixed-up  home  with  be- 
dizened chairs  from  which  the  gilt  peels  guiltily  off, 
when  you  look  at  them,  straight-backed  sofas,  tidies, 
throws  and  doilies  scattered  everywhere,  ready  to  fasten 
themselves  to  your  back  and  elope  with  you  when  you 
leave.  No,  but  articles  that  are  grand  in  their  propor- 
tions, simple,  solid,  substantial  and  artistic.  As  with  the 
books  I  will  not  try  to  describe  them,  get  some  of  that 
furniture  and  it  will  tell  its  own  story,  I  don't  know  how. 
Q"  What  does  he  propose?"  I  don't  know.  He  does  n't 
propose  to  turn  the  tide  on  which  men  float  to  ruin,  but 
he  does  try  to  turn  the  strugglers  and  help  them  battle 
against  the  tide  by  causing  them  to  do,  and  have  respect 
for  honest  labor.  He  is  reviving  the  lost  art  of  illumin- 
ing books  by  hand,  and  is  doing  it  well:  he  is  inspir- 
ing a  love  of  the  beautiful  and  artistic  as  well  as  the 
useful.  The  last  day  I  was  there  I  saw  men  hand-tooling 
books  making  a  hundred  different  marks  and  scrolls 
on  the  binding,  doing  it  by  hand,  no  two  books  alike. 
There  is  an  individuality  about  the  Roycroft  books  that 
you  find  nowhere  else  between  covers,  or  on  pages. 
When  I  turned  away  from  the  workmen,  and  I  did  it  re- 
luctantly, a  black  spaniel  stood  at  my  heels  and  followed 
me  down  stairs.  No  one  molested  him:  he  walked  around 
there  as  unreservedly  as  I  did.  Going  down  stairs  we, 
the  dog  and  I,  met  a  little  curly-haired  girl  going  up.  She 
had  an  armful  of  flowers.  I  asked  her  if  she  was  bring- 
ing them  in  to  her  sister  or  her  papa.  She  shook  her  curls, 
laughed  and  said:  "No,  just  fetchin'  'em  in  for  'em  all." 
Q  If  that  child,  while  in  the  Shop,  saw  a  box  of  paints,  a 
brush  and  sheet  of  paper,  she  might  test  her  ability  and 
suit  her  fancy  in  painting  a  leaf  for  one  of  the  books  you 
get  from  the  Roycrofters.  If  she  did  it  well  she  would  be 
vi 


paid  for  it,  but,  well  or  badly,  she  would  be  invited  to 
come  again  and  try  it  over.  No  one  feels  a  stranger  or  ill 
at  ease  in  the  Roycroft. 

I  watched  Mr.  Hubbard  walk  along  the  streets  and  saw  the 
children  meet  him.  They  had  a  cheery  word  for  him,  they 
all  smiled  and  talked  to  him.  They  all  received  a  kind 
word  from  him  and  they  were  all  happy,  the  children  be- 
cause they  met  him  and  he  spoke  to  them  ;  he,  because 
they  were  happy. 

Roycroft  is  no  place  for  the  artificial  man,  and,  by  the 
way,  I  rather  guess  that  in  this  artificial  age  the  man  who 
acts  naturally  is  regarded  as  insane.  The  chap  with  the 
clocked  stockings  that  ticks  loud  enough  to  be  heard 
upstairs  in  the  garret,  and  pulls  his  trousers  up  to  show 
them  off,  should  pass  on  to  Buffalo,  and  not  stop  off  at 
East  Aurora. 

When  you  go  there,  take  a  second  suit  of  clothes  along. 
Roycroft  is  a  stylish  place,  it  has  a  style  of  its  own,  it  is 
a  fashionable  place,  it  has  a  fashion  of  going  out  to  the 
fields  among  the  buttercups  and  daisies,  out  in  the  woods 
among  the  ferns,  the  shrubs  and  shades. 
If  you  have  a  suit  that  will  stand  the  wear  and  tear  of 
out-door  life,  take  it  with  you  along  with  "your  best  suit 
of  clothes,"  for  you  will  wear  it  more  than  the  other.  You 
may  wear  what  you  like  so  long  as  it  is  respectable.  No 
one  pays  attention  to  what  you  wear,  but  they  do  heed 
what  you  say,  so  study  up  and  try  to  talk  well  before  go- 
ing there,  or  else  cultivate  that  becoming  silence  which  is 
a  benediction  to  heal  the  blows  of  sound. 
"What  did  I  do?"  Oh,  I  have  been  to  so  many  places, 
have  been  written  up — and  down — so  much  that  no  one 
minds  me  now. 

In  the  summer  the  habit  grows  on  you,  and  all  who  visit 
Roycroft,  get  out  early  in  the  fields  and  woods.  I  met 
a  singular  character  there  named  Freeland.  He  did  n't 
stop  at  the  Phalansterie  or  anywhere  else  that  I  know 

vii 


of.  I  met  him  out  in  the  woods  one  morning  and  was 
surprised  to  find  him  with  an  armful  of  stones,  roots 
and  specimens  that  he  must  have  been  hours  gathering. 
Asked  him  if  he  came  out  before  breakfast  and  he  said  : 
"  No,  just  took  a  cup  of  coffee  before  coming  out  and  af- 
ter I  got  here,  stubbed  my  toe  and  took  a  roll." 
I  met  Wilson  Fay  there.  You  must  meet  him  when  you 
visit  Roycroft.  He  knows  more  than  any  man  I  ever 
met  about  earth,  trees,  grasses,  flowers,  birds,  beasts, 
(our  kind  excepted),  rocks,  stones  and  everything  in  na- 
ture. His  knowledge  is  wonderful,  his  language  is  poetry 
itself,  for  it  is  the  language  of  flowers.  Think  of— 

A  tree,  a  shrub,  a  radiant  flower, 

A  crystal  brook,  a  shaded  bower, 

A  sunlit  field,  a  golden  day 

And  you  know  the  soul  of  Wilson  Fay. 

He  will  pick  up  a  weed,  and  from  its  leaves  and  roots 
read  a  poem  to  you.  He  says  there  are  no  noxious  weeds, 
that  a  noxious  weed  is  a  plant  we  do  not  understand,  and 
is  not  that  true  of  men?  The  poor  fellow  going  to.  the 
dogs  thru  drink — no,  not  to  the  dogs,  for  they  do  not 
drink — who  is  shunned  and  reviled,  called  a  bad  weed, 
may  be  only  a  plant  we  do  not  understand,  and  a  little 
kindness,  a  word  of  cheer,  a  smile  may  change  his  whole 
career  and  make  a  posey  of  him. 

Try  it  on  the  next  one  you  meet  and  you  will  do  more 
goed  than  if  you  handed  out  a  quarter  or  half-dollar  to 
him.  I  don't  mean  to  say  that  you  should  not  hand  out 
the  half-dollar,  too,  if  he  needs  it,  but  if  you  do,  don't 
throw  in  a  chunk  of  advice  or  a  sermon — it  won't  do  any 
good.  But  be  kind.  Kindness  is  like  the  measles,  it  is  catch- 
ing. I  have  it  myself  sometimes. 

Mr.  Hubbard  doesn't  keep  his  visitors  in  the  Shop  talk- 
ing about  himself,  he  talks  less  of  himself  than  any  man 
I  know.  He  takes  you  out  in  the  woods  and  talks  plants 
and  plant  life,  horses,  animals  of  all  kinds,  and  how  to 
viii 


labor  satisfactorily  and  well.  Animals  are  his  friends,  he 
knows  all  about  them  and  loves  them. 
I  heard  men  say  after  they  were  at  Roycroft  a  day  or 
two  and  had  gone  afield  once  or  twice,  that  they  could 
not  understand  why  they  had  not  taken  interest  in  such 
things  at  home.  Here  they  were  eager  to  hear  the  lessons 
taught  by  Mr.  Hubbard  or  Mr.  Fay,  and  they  took  deep 
interest  in  shrub  and  flower.  On  going  to  East  "Aurora 
you  go  to  a  place  where  more  people  who  love  inanimate 
nature  go  than  to  most  places.  At  home  you  do  not  meet 
such  people,  and  you  are  richer  for  your  visit.  When  at 
home,  returning  from  your  work,  you  may  be  in  a  brown 
study,  or  a  blue  or  a  green  study,  about  a  tree  or  flower, 
you  wonder — 

Is  the  flower  pistillate  or  staminate, 

Then,  why  did  you  stay  so  late  ? 
Where  's  that  sugar,  where  's  that  ham  ? 

Until  inside  you  think  a  dam, 

the  sugar  and  the  ham  take  the  place  of  tree  and  flower. 
Anyway  there  's  a  time  and  place  for  everything,  and  at 
times  the  odor  of  ox-tail  soup  is  apt  to  supplant  ox-eye 
daisies  in  your  affections. 

At  home,  with  its  worries  and  toils  and  cares, 

You  're  apt  to  see  the  rents  and  tears. 

But  steal  off  to  the  woods  for  a  quiet  hour, 

And  you  '11  hear  God  talk  from  tree  and  flower. 

Learn  the  lesson  and  learn  it  well; 

As  you  walk  through  field  and  shady  dell, 

Let  it  sink  in  deeply  as  it  can, 

That  you  cannot  love  flowers  and  not  love  man. 

God  made  both,  and  He  made  them  well; 

He  made  the  flowers,  but  man  made  hell. 

There  'd  be  no  hell  if  man  could  see 

The  beauty  hidden  in  shrub  and  tree; 

The  flowers  afield,  the  ferns  in  the  wood 

Are  all  so  pure,  so  sweet,  so  good, 

But  God  is  wise,  He  knows  best. 

One  day  He  '11  call  man  home  to  rest. 

Man  rules  the  earth,  he  's  monarch  here; 

ix 


But  God  rules  here  and  everywhere. 
The  sceptre  from  man's  hand  will  pass 
And  o'er  him  will  rule  the  flowers  and  grass, 

and  so  on.  After  all,  the  flowers  and  grass  are  man's  best 
friends,  they  give  him  happiness  in  life,  and  cover  him, 
with  all  his  faults  and  virtues,  after  death. 
But  what  about  Hubbard,  you  ask.  He  radiates  love  of 
the  beautiful,  the  artistic  and  the  useful. 
He  is  an  inspiration. 

He  asks  no  one  to  do  what  he  is  not  willing  to  do  him- 
self;  and  he  will  do  whatever  comes  to  his  hand  to  do. 
Honest  work,  done  with  all  your  heart  and  soul,  is  what 
you  should  do — and  that  is  the  way  he  works.  No  one 
thinks  of  the  clock  in  the  Roycroft  Shop.  I  should  think 
that  the  man  who  stole  an  hour,  or  minute  of  time  there 
would  feel  his  own  pocket  after  awhile  and  wonder  who 
had  picked  it. 

Once  a  year,  you  may  go  oftener  if  you  wish,  Elbert 
invites  to  East  Aurora  a  number  of  Philistines, 
some  of  whom,  like  myself,  have  been  slain  many  times 
over  with  the  jaw-bone  of  Balaam's  teacher  of  languages. 
This  gathering  is  called  the  Roycroft  Conference.  Men 
and  women  who  think  for  themselves,  but  who  respect 
the  opinions  of  others,  gather  here. 
You  do  not  find  the  long-haired  man  or  short-haired 
woman,  but  you  find  the  manly  man  and  womanly 
woman  at  the  Conference  each  year.  If  you  care  to  ex- 
press your  opinion  no  one  takes  offence  so  long  as  you 
do  not  run  thru  the  realms  of  vulgarity,  obscenity  or 
profanity — these  have  no  cards  of  admission  to  the  Roy- 
croft Conference. 

There  are  lectures  at  the  Chapel  and  out  at  the  pavilion 
in  the  woods,  visits  to  the  barn  where  Ali  Baba  milks  the 
cows  and  speaks  a  wonderful  language  that  all,  including 
the  cows,  may  understand,  walks  afield  and  out  to  the 
woods  where — 


To  him  who  in  the  love  of  nature  holds 
Communion  with  her  visible  forms,  she  speaks 
A  various  language, 

and  makes  one  feel  better  for  having  mingled  with  the 
Royal  Roycrofters  who  believe  the  good  things  of  this 
earth  were  made  for  its  men  and  women,  made  to  be  en- 
joyed here  and  not  hereafter,  made  to  be  enjoyed  by  all, 
shared  by  all,  for  joy  and  happiness  may  be  given  to 
others  and  in  the  doing  of  it  we  make  ourselves  happier. 
You  are  not  asked  to  give  up  any  of  your  earthly  posses- 
sions, but  in  giving  and  taking  kindness,  considerate 
treatment,  happiness  and  good-cheer,  all  are  commu- 
nists. An  inspiring  genius  must  have  given  birth  to  all 
this,  and  his  name  is  Elbert  Hubbard  during  his  visit  to 
this  earth. 

The  world  has  produced  many  great  men — it  has  never 
produced  a  faultless  man.  Hubbard's  faults,  and  I  hope 
he  is  not  without  them,  are  his  own.  I  did  not  enquire 
into  or  meddle  myself  with  them  and  I  felt  greatly  re- 
lieved when  he  did  not  enquire  into  mine,  for  I  am  not 
made  of  the  kind  of  clay  that  can  throw  stones  accurately. 
I  know  more  about  myself  than  I  know  about  Hubbard, 
or  any  one  else,  and,  while  I  have  heard  and  read  many 
bad  things  about  myself,  I  do  not  believe  them  all.  Any- 
way the  worst  of  them  is  not  so  bad  as  I  could  tell  about 
myself  if  I  became  real  chummy  with  the  public. 
Therefore  am  I  pleased  that  no  one  knows  me  as  I  know 
myself,  and  if  any  of  my  friends  are  blessed  with  faults 
and  some  other  friend  wishes  to  gossip  about  them,  I  am 
not  the  one  to  "  cast  the  first  stone  "  or  the  last  one 
either. 

The  world  will  write  Elbert  Hubbard  a  benefactor  of  the 
race.  He  seeks  to  cause  workers  to  put  in  practice  the  old 
advice  :  "  Whatever  your  hand  finds  to  do,  do  it  well." 
He  detests  cant,  hates  hypocrisy,  and  despises  sham.  He 
is  a  real  man  in  all  that  he  does.  His  writings  are  virile, 

xi 


arrow-tipped  and  strong  bowed.  His  blow  has  the  effect 
of  a  sledge,  but  he  uses  only  a  quill.  His  vocabulary  is 
^wonderful,  his  Little  Journeys  are  classics. 
Every  fellow  who  thought  he  knew  how  to  write  before 
he  read  Elbert  Hubbard,  is  barking  at  him,  calling  him 
fake,  upstart,  insane,  insincere,  and  a  lot  of  other  names 
that  he  has  to  consult  the  dictionary  to  learn  how  to 
spell — and  then  he  tries  to  imitate  him. 
When  the  mental  hydrophobia  that  now  animates  them 
has  been  buried  with  them,  Hubbard  will  be  remembered 
as  one  who  served  his  fellowmen  without  asking  leave, 
helped  them  in  his  own  way  to  lift  themselves  out  of  the 
rut,  that  was  beaten  for  them  by  others,  and  to  walk  in  a 
new  road. 

He  is  teaching  man  to  do  his  work  well,  to  respect  the 
labor  of  his  own  hands,  to  be  kind,  to  be  cheerful  in  his 
work,  to  aspire  to  the  highest  ideals;  he  is  teaching  man 
to  be  proud  of  his  work  and  to  throw  his  false  pride  to 
the  dogs. 

Hubbard  does  not  ask  you  to  agree  with  his  religious  or 
political  views,  or  with  any  of  his  views  for  that  matter, 
but  he  claims  for  all  men  the  right  to  do  as  he  does — ex- 
press their  views  without  fear  or  favor,  and  be  true  to 
themselves.  Hubbard  keeps  his  hands  in  his  own  pockets; 
some  of  his  critics  prefer  exploring  their  neighbors' 
pockets.  He  makes  many  a  vigorous  plea  for  freedom, 
but  no  man  knows  better  than  Elbert  Hubbard  that 
freedom  implies  responsibility.  In  his  private  life  Hub- 
bard is  a  regular  Puritan.  He  is  not  afraid  of  work,  for 
the  last  time  I  saw  him  he  was  walking  slowly,  but 
fearlessly  toward  the  wood-pile,  where  a  sawbuck  stood 
exposed  to  view. 

If  this  Little  Journey  to  the  Home  of  Elbert  Hubbard  is 
not  satisfactory  to  you,  why  go  to  East  Aurora  yourself. 


XII 


be  found  who  would  make  such  an  instrument  as  they  LITTLE 
wanted  for  the  price  they  could  afford  to  pay.  They,  JOURNEYS 
however,  found  an  amateur  lens  polisher  who  offered 
to  sell  his  tools,  materials  and  instruments  for  a  small 
sum.  After  consultation  the  brother  and  sister  bought 
him  out.  So  at  the  price  they  expected  to  pay  for  a 
telescope  they  had  on  their  hands  a  machine  shop. 
QThe  work  of  grinding  and  polishing  lenses  is  a  most 
delicate  business.  Only  a  person  of  infinite  patience 
and  persistency  can  succeed  at  it.  In  Alleghany,  Penn- 
sylvania, lives  John  Brashear,  who,  by  his  own  efforts, 
assisted  by  a  noble  wife,  graduated  from  a  rolling  mill 
and  became  a  maker  of  telescopes.  Brashear  is  prac- 
tically the  one  telescope  lens-maker  of  America  since 
Alvan  Clark  resigned.  There  is  no  competition  in  this 
line — the  difficulties  are  too  appalling  for  the  average 
man.  The  slightest  accident  or  an  unseen  flaw,  and  the 
work  of  months  or  years  goes  into  the  dust-bin  of  time, 
and  all  must  be  gone  over  again. 

So  when  we  think  of  this  brother  and  sister  sailing 
away  upon  an  unknown  ocean — working  day  after  day, 
night  after  night,  week  after  week  and  month  after 
month,  discarding  scores  of  specula  which  they  had 
worked  upon  many  weary  hours  in  order  to  get  the 
glass  that  would  serve — we  must  remove  our  hats  in 
reverence. 


141 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


[OD  sends  great  men  in  groups.  From  about 
1740  for  the  next  thirty-five  years  the  in- 
tellectual sky  seemed  full  of  shooting 
stars.  Watt  had  watched  his  mother's 
teakettle  to  a  purpose;  Boston  Harbor 
was  transformed  into  another  kind  of  Hy- 
son dish;  Franklin  had  been  busy  with  kite  and  key; 
Gibbon  was  writing  his  "Decline  and  Fall";  fate  was 
pitting  the  Pitts  against  Fox;  Hume  was  challenging 
the  worshippers  of  a  fetich  and  supplying  arguments 
still  bright  with  use;  Voltaire  and  Rousseau  were  pre- 
paring the  way  for  Madame  Guillotine;  Horace  Wai- 
pole  was  printing  marvelous  books  at  his  private  press 
at  Strawberry  Hill;  Sheridan  was  writing  autobio- 
graphical comedies ;  Garrick  was  mimicking  his  way  to 
immortality;  Gainsborough  was  working  the  apoth- 
eosis of  a  hat;  Reynolds,  Lawrence,  Romney,  and 
West  the  American,  were  forming  an  English  School 
of  Art;  George  Washington  and  George  III.  were 
linking  their  names  preparatory  to  sending  them  down 
the  ages ;  Boswell  was  penning  undying  gossip ;  Black- 
stone  was  writing  his  "  Commentaries  "  for  legal  lights 
unborn ;  Thomas  Paine  was  getting  his  name  on  the 
blacklist  of  orthodoxy ;  Burke  the  Irishman,  was 
polishing  his  brogue  so  that  he  might  be  known  as 
England's  greatest  orator;  the  little  Corsican  was 
dreaming  dreams  of  conquest;  Arthur  Wellesley  was 
having  presentiments  of  coming  difficulties;  Gold- 
smith was  giving  dinners  with  bailiffs  for  servants; 
'Warren  Hastings  was  defending  a  suit  where  the 
142 


chief  participants  were  to  die  before  a  verdict  was      LITTLE 
rendered;  Captain  Cook  was  giving  to  this  world  new     JOURNEYS 
lands,  while  William   Herschel   and  his  sister  were 
showing  the  world  still   other  worlds,   till  then  un- 
known. 


'HE  brother  and  sister  had  thought  they 
would  be  content  when  they  had  followed 
the  subject  of  astronomy  as  far  as  Fer- 
guson had  followed  it,  and  knew  all  that 
he  knew.  Progress  depends  upon  being 
continually  dissatisfied.  Ferguson  now 
only  aggravated  them  by  his  limitations. 
In  their  music  they  amused,  animated  and  inspired 
the  fashionable  idlers.  William  gave  lessons  to  private 
pupils,  led  his  orchestra,  played  the  organ  and  harp- 
sichord and  managed  to  make  ends  meet,  and  would 
have  gotten  reasonably  rich  had  he  not  invested  his 
spare  cash  in  lenses,  brass  tubes,  eye-pieces,  specula 
and  other  such  trifles,  and  stood  most  of  the  night  out 
on  the  lawn  peering  at  the  sky. 

He  had  been  studying  stars  for  seven  years  before  the 
Bath  that  he  amused  awoke  to  the  fact  that  there  was 
a  genius  among  them.  And  this  genius  was  not  the 
idolized  Beau  Nash  whose  statue  adorned  the  Pump 
Room!  No,  it  was  the  man  whose  back  they  saw  at 
the  concerts. 

During  all  these  years  Herschel  had  worked  alone  and 
had  scarcely  ever  mentioned  the  subject  of  astron- 

143 


LITTLE  omy  with  any  one  save  his  sister.  One  night,  however, 
JOURNEYS  he  had  moved  his  telescope  into  the  middle  of  the 
street  to  get  away  from  the  shadows  of  the  houses. 
A  doctor  who  had  been  out  to  answer  a  midnight  call 
stopped  at  the  unusual  sight  and  asked  if  he  might 
look  through  the  instrument.  Permission  was  courte- 
ously granted. 

The  next  day  the  doctor  called  on  the  astronomer  to 
thank  him  for  the  privilege  of  looking  through  a  better 
telescope  than  his  own.  This  doctor  was  Sir  William 
Watson,  an  amateur  astronomer  and  all-'round  scien- 
tist, and  a  member  of  the  Royal  Society  of  London. 
C{  Herschel  had  held  himself  high — he  had  not  gos- 
siped of  his  work  with  the  populace,  cheapening  his 
thought  by  diluting  it  for  cheap  people.  Watson  saw 
that  Herschel,  working  alone,  isolated,  had  surpassed 
the  schools.  There  is  a  nugget  of  wisdom  in  Ibsen's 
remark,  "The  strongest  man  is  he  who  stands  alone," 
and  Kipling's  paraphrase,  "  He  travels  the  fastest  who 
travels  alone." 

The  chance  acquaintance  of  Herschel  and  Watson 
soon  ripened  into  a  very  warm  friendship.  Herschel 
amused  the  neurotics,  Watson  dosed  and  blistered 
them — both  for  a  consideration.  Each  had  a  beautiful 
contempt  for  the  society  they  served.  Watson's  father 
"was  of  the  purple,  while  Herschel's  was  of  the  people, 
but  both  men  belonged  to  the  aristocracy  of  intellect. 
CJ  Watson  introduced  Herschel  into  the  select  scien- 
tific circle  of  London,  where  his  fine  reserve  and  dig- 
nity made  their  due  impress.  Herschel's  first  paper  to 
144 


the  Royal  Society,  presented  by  Dr.  Watson,  was  on      LITTLE 
the  periodical  star  in  Collo  Ceti.  JOURNEYS 

The  members  of  the  Society,  always  very  jealous  and 
suspicious  of  outsiders,  saw  they  had  a  thinker  to  deal 
with  jt  jk 

Some  one  carried  the  news  to  Bath — a  great  astron- 
omer was  among  them !  About  this  time  Horace  "Wai- 
pole  said,  "Mr.  Herschel  will  content  me  if  instead  of 
a  million  worlds,  he  can  discover  me  thirteen  colonies 
well  inhabited  by  men  and  women,  and  can  annex 
them  to  the  Crown  of  Great  Britain  in  lieu  of  those  it 
has  lost  beyond  the  Atlantic." 

Bath  society  now  took  up  astronomy  as  a  fad,  and 
fashionable  ladies  named  the  planets  backward  and 
forward  from  a  blackboard  list  set  up  in  the  Pump 
House  by  Fanny  Burney,  the  clever  one.  Herschel 
was  invited  to  give  popular  lectures  on  the  music  of 
the  spheres. 

Herschel's  music  parlors  were  besieged  by  good  people 
who  wanted  to  make  engagements  with  him  to  look 
through  his  telescope.  One  good  woman  gave  the 
year,  month,  day,  hour  and  minute  of  her  birth  and 
wanted  her  fortune  told.  Poor  Herschel  declined,  say- 
ing he  knew  nothing  of  astronomy,  but  could  give  her 
lessons  in  music  if  desired. 

In  answer  to  the  law  of  supply  and  demand,  thus 
proving  the  efficacy  of  prayer,  an  itinerant  astronomer 
came  down  from  London  and  set  up  a  five-foot  tele- 
scope on  the  Parade  and  solicited  the  curious  ones  at 
tuppence  a  peep. 

145 


LITTLE     This  itinerant  interested  the  populace  by  telling  them 

JOURNEYS     a  few  stories  about  the  stars  that  were  not  recorded 

in  Ferguson,  and  passed  out  his  cards  showing  where 

he  could  be  consulted  as  a  fortune-teller  during  the 

day  &  & 

Once  Herschel  was  passing  by  this  street  astronomer, 
who  was  crying  his  wares,  and  a  sudden  impulse 
coming  over  him  to  see  how  bad  the  man's  lenses 
might  be,  he  stopped  to  take  a  peep  at  Earth's  satel-  t 
lite.  He  handed  out  the  usual  tuppence,  but  the  owner 
of  the  telescope  loftily  passed  it  back  saying,  "I  takes 
no  fee  from  a  fellow-philosopher!" 
This  story  went  the  rounds,  and  when  it  reached 
London  it  had  been  amended  thus:  Charles  Fox  was 
taking  a  ramble  at  Bath,  ran  across  William  Herschel 
at  work,  and  mistaking  him  for  an  itinerant,  the  great 
statesman  stopped,  peeped  through  the  aperture,  and 
then  passing  out  a  tuppence  moved  along  blissfully 
unaware  of  his  error,  for  Herschel  being  a  perfect 
gentleman  would  not  embarrass  the  great  man  by  re- 
fusing his  copper. 

When  Herschel  was  asked  if  the  story  were  true  he 
denied  the  whole  fabric,  which  the  knowing  ones  said 
was  further  proof  of  his  gentlemanly  instincts — for  a 
true  gentleman  will  always  lie  under  two  conditions — 
first  to  save  a  woman's  honor,  and  second  to  save  a 
friend  from  embarrassment. 

As  a  profession,  astrology  has  ever  proved  a  better  in- 
vestment than  astronomy.  Astronomy  has  nothing  to 
offer  but  abstract  truth,  and  those  who  love  astronomy 
146 


must  do  so  for  truth's  sake.  Astronomical  discoveries 
cannot  be  covered  by  copyright  or  patent,  nor  can  new 
worlds  be  claimed  as  private  property  and  financed  by 
stock  companies,  frenzied  or  otherwise.  Astrology,  on 
the  other  hand,  relates  to  love-affairs,  vital  statistics, 
gold  mines,  misplaced  jewels  and  lost  opportunities. 
Q  Even  yet,  in  this  year  of  grace,  1905,  Boston  news- 
papers carry  a  column  devoted  to  announcements  of 
astrologers,  while  the  Cambridge  Astronomical  Obser- 
vatory never  gets  so  much  as  a  mention  from  one  year's 
end  to  the  other.  Besides  that,  astronomers  have  to 
be  supported  by  endowment — mendicancy — while  as- 
trologers are  paid  for  their  prophecies  by  the  people 
whose  destinies  they  invent. 

This  shows  us  how  far  as  a  nation  we  have  traveled 
on  the  stony  road  of  Science.  Science?  Oh,  yes,  of 
course — science — bang!  bang!  bang! 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


(N  March,  1791,  Herschel  found  his  place  as 
a  fixed  star  among  the  -world's  great  as- 
tronomers by  the  discovery  of  Uranus. 
Years  before  this,  William  and  Caroline 
had  figured  it  out  that  there  must  be  an- 
other planet  in  our  system  in  order  to  ac- 
count plausibly  for  the  peculiar  ellipses  of  the  others. 
That  is  to  say,  they  felt  the  influence  of  this  seventh 
planet ;  its  attractive  force  was  realized,  but  where  it 
was  they  could  not  tell.  Its  discovery  by  Herschel 
was  quite  accidental.  He  was  sweeping  the  heavens 

147 


LITTLE  for  comets  when  this  star  came  within  his  vision. 
JOURNEYS  Others  had  seen  it  too,  but  had  classified  it  as  "a  va- 
grant fixed  star."  It  was  the  -work  of  Herschel  to  dis- 
cover that  it  was  not  a  fixed  star,  but  had  a  defined 
and  distinct  orbit  that  could  be  calculated.  To  look  up 
at  the  heavens  and  pick  out  a  star  that  could  only  be 
seen  with  a  telescope — pick  it  out  of  millions  and  as- 
certain its  movement  seems  like  finding  the  proverbial 
needle  in  a  haystack. 

The  present  method  of  finding  asteroids  and  comets 
by  means  of  photography  is  simple  and  easy.  The 
plate  is  exposed  in  a  frame  that  moves  by  clock-work 
with  the  earth,  so  as  to  keep  the  same  field  of  stars 
steady  on  the  glass.  After  two,  three  or  four  hours  ex- 
posure the  photograph  will  show  the  fixed  stars,  but 
the  planets,  asteroids  and  comets  will  reveal  them- 
selves as  a  white  streak  of  light,  showing  plainly  where 
the  sitters  moved. 

Herschel  had  to  watch  each  particular  star  in  person, 
whereas  the  photographic  lens  will  watch  a  thousand. 
Q  How  close  and  persistent  an  observer  a  man  must 
be,  who,  watching  one  star  at  a  time,  discovers  the  one 
in  a  million  that  moves,  is  apparent.  Chance,  surely, 
must  also  come  to  his  aid  and  rescue  if  he  succeeds. 
Q  Herschel  found  his  moving  star,  and  at  first  mistook 
it  for  a  comet.  Later  he  and  Caroline  were  agreed  that 
it  -was  indeed  their  long-looked-for  planet.  There  are 
no  proprietary  rights  in  newly  discovered  worlds — 
the  reward  is  in  the  honor  of  the  discovery,  just  as  the 
best  recompense  for  a  good  deed  lies  in  having  done  it. 
148 


QThe   Royal  Society  was  the  recording  station,  as     LITTLE 
Kiel,  Greenwich  and  Harvard  are  now.  Herschel  made     JOURNEYS 
haste  to  get  his  new  world  on  record  through  his  kind 
neighbor,  Dr.  Watson. 

The  Royal  Society  gave  out  the  information  and  soon 
vairous  other  telescopes  corroborated  the  discovery 
made  by  the  Bath  musician. 

Herschel  christened  his  new  discovery  "Georgium 
Sidus"  in  honor  of  the  King,  but  the  star  belonged  as 
much  to  Germany  and  France  as  to  England,  and  as- 
tronomers abroad  scouted  the  idea  of  peppering  the 
heavens  with  the  names  of  nobodies.  Several  astron- 
omers suggested  the  name  "Herschel,"  if  the  dis- 
coverer would  consent,  but  this  he  would  not  do.  Dr. 
Bode  then  named  the  new  star  Uranus,  and  Uranus  it 
is,  although  perhaps  with  any  other  name  'twould 
shine  as  bright. 

Herschel  was  forty-three  years  old  when  he  discovered 
Uranus.  He  was  still  a  professional  musician,  and  an 
amateur  astronomer.  But  it  did  not  require  much 
urging  on  the  part  of  Dr.  'Watson  when  he  presented 
Herschel's  name  for  membership  in  the  Royal  Society 
for  that  respectable  body  to  at  once  pass  favorably  on 
the  nomination.  As  one  member  in  seconding  the 
motion  put  it,  "Herschel  honors  us  in  accepting  this 
membership,  quite  as  much  as  we  do  him  in  granting 
it."  J>  & 

And  so  the  next  paper  presented  by  Herschel  to  the 
Royal  Society  appears  on  the  record  signed  "William 
Herschel,  F.  R.  S."  Later  it  was  to  appear,  "William 

149 


LITTLE     Herschel,  F.  R.  S.,  LL.  D.  (Edinburgh);"   and  then 
JOURNEYS     "Sir  William  Herschel,  F.  R.  S.,  LL.  D.,  D.  C.  L. 

(Oxon)." 

N  1782  George  III.  invited  his  distinguished 
Hanoverian  countryman  to  become  an  at- 
tache of  the  Court  with  the  title  of  "As- 
tronomer to  the  King."  The  Astronomer- 
Royal,  in  charge  of  the   Greenwich  Ob- 
servatory, was  Dr.  Maskelyne,  a  man  of 
much  learning,  a  stickler  for  the  fact,  with  a  mustard- 
seed  imagination.  Being  asked  his  opinion  of  Herschel 
he  assured  the  company  thus,  "Herschel  is  a  great 
musician — a  great  musician!"   Afterward  Maskelyne 
explained  that  the  reason   Herschel  saw  more  than 
other  astronomers  was  because  he  had  made  himself 
a  better  telescope. 

One  real  secret  of  Herschel's  influence  seems  to  have 
been  his  fine  enthusiasm  Jt,  He  worked  with  such 
a  vim,  such  animation,  that  he  radiated  light  on  every 
side.  He  set  others  to  work,  and  his  love  for  astronomy 
as  a  science  created  a  demand  for  telescopes,  which 
he  himself  had  to  supply.  It  does  not  seem  that  he 
cared  especially  for  money — all  he  made  he  spent  for 
new  apparatus. 

He  had  a  force  of  a  dozen  men  making  telescopes.  He 
worked  with  them  in  blouse  and  overalls,  and  not  one 
among  his  workmen  excelled  him  as  a  machinist. 
The  King  bought  several  of  his  telescopes  for  from 
150 


one  hundred  to  three  hundred  pounds  each,  and  pre-  LITTLE 
sented  them  to  universities  and  learned  societies  JOURNEYS 
throughout  the  world.  One  fine  telescope  was  pre- 
sented to  the  University  of  Gottingen,  and  Herschel 
was  sent  in  person  to  present  it.  He  was  received 
with  the  greatest  honors,  and  scientists  and  musicians 
rivaled  with  each  other  to  do  him  homage. 
In  1782  Herschel  and  his  sister  gave  up  their  musical 
work  and  moved  from  Bath  to  quarters  provided  for 
them  near  Windsor  Castle.  Herschel's  salary  was  the 
modest  sum  of  two  hundred  pounds  a  year.  Caroline 
was  honored  with  the  title  "  Assistant  to  the  King's 
Astronomer,"  with  the  stipend  of  fifty  pounds  a  year. 
It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  kingly  idea  of  astronomy 
had  not  traveled  very  far  from  what  it  was  when  every 
really  respectable  court  had  a  retinue  of  singers,  mu- 
sicians, clowns,  dancers,  palmists  and  scientists  to 
amuse  the  good  people  somewhat  ironically  called 
"nobility."  King  George  III.  paid  his  Cook,  Master  of 
the  Kennels,  Chaplain,  and  Astronomer  the  same 
amount.  The  father  of  Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan  was 
"Elocutionist  to  the  King,"  and  was  paid  a  like  sum. 
When  Dr.  Watson  heard  that  Herschel  was  about  to 
leave  Bath  he  wrote,  "Never  bought  King  honour  so 
cheap."  &  & 

It  was  nominated  in  the  bond  that  Herschel  should 
act  as  "Guide  to  the  heavens  for  the  diversification  of 
visitors  whenever  his  Majesty  wills  it."  But  it  was 
also  provided  that  the  astronomer  should  be  allowed 
to  carry  on  the  business  of  making  and  selling  tele- 

151 


LITTLE  scopes.  QHerschel's  enthusiasm  for  his  beloved  sci- 
JOURNEYS  ence  never  abated.  But  often  his  imagination  outran 
his  facts.  Great  minds  divine  the  thing  first — they  see 
it  with  their  inward  eye.  Yet  there  may  be  danger  in 
this,  for  in  one's  anxiety  to  prove  what  he  first  only 
imagined,  small  proof  suffices. 

Thus  Herschel  was  for  many  years  sure  that  the  moon 
had  an  atmosphere  and  was  inhabited;  he  thought  that 
he  had  seen  clear  through  the  Milky  Way  and  dis- 
covered empty  space  beyond;  he  calculated  distances, 
and  announced  how  far  Castor  was  from  Pollux;  he 
even  made  a  guess  as  to  how  long  it  took  for  gaseous 
nebula  to  resolve  itself  into  a  planetary  system;  he 
believed  the  sun  was  a  molten  mass  of  fire — a  thing 
many  believed  until  they  saw  the  incandescent  electric 
lamp — and  in  various  other  ways  made  daring  proph- 
ecies which  science  has  not  only  failed  to  corroborate, 
but  which  we  now  know  as  errors. 
But  the  intensity  of  his  nature  was  both  his  virtue  and 
his  weakness.  Men  who  do  nothing  and  say  nothing  are 
never  ridiculous.  Those  who  hope  much,  believe  much 
and  love  much,  make  mistakes.  Constant  effort  and 
frequent  mistakes  are  the  stepping-stones  of  genius. 
Q  In  all,  Herschel  contributed  sixty-seven  important 
papers  to  the  proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society,  and  in 
one  of  these  written  in  his  eightieth  year  he  says,  "  My 
enthusiasm  has  occasionally  led  me  astray,  and  I  wish 
now  to  correct  a  statement  I  made  to  you  twenty- 
eight  years  ago."  He  then  enumerates  some  particular 
statement  about  the  height  of  mountains  in  the  moon, 
152 


and  corrects  it.  Truth  was  more  to  Herschel  than  con-      LITTLE 
sistency.  The  earnestness,  purity  of  purpose  and  sim-     JOURNEYS 
plicity  of  his  mind,  indeed,  stamp  him  as  one  of  the 
-world's  great  men. 

At  Windsor  he  built  a  two-story  observatory.  In  the 
winter  time,  every  night  when  the  stars  could  be  seen, 
was  sacred.  No  matter  how  cold  the  weather,  he  stood 
and  watched,  while  down  below,  the  faithful  Caroline 
sat  and  recorded  the  observations  that  he  called  down 
to  her. 

Caroline  was  his  confidante,  adviser,  secretary,  ser- 
vant, friend.  She  had  a  telescope  of  her  own  and  when 
her  brother  did  not  need  her  services  she  swept  the 
heavens  on  her  own  account  for  maverick  comets.  In 
her  work  she  was  eminently  successful,  and  at  least 
five  comets  are  placed  to  her  credit  on  the  honor  roll 
by  right  of  priority.  Her  discoveries  were  duly  for- 
warded by  her  brother  to  the  Royal  Society  for  record. 
Q  Later,  the  King  of  Prussia  was  to  honor  her  with  a 
gold  medal,  and  several  learned  societies  elected  her 
an  honorary  member. 

When  Herschel  reached  the  discreet  age  of  fifty  he 
married  the  worthy  Mrs.  John  Pitt,  former  wife  of  a 
London  merchant.  It  is  believed  that  the  marriage  was 
arranged  by  the  King  in  person  out  of  his  great  love 
for  both  parties.  At  least  Miss  Burney  thought  so. 
Miss  Burney  was  Keeper  of  the  Royal  Wardrobe  at 
the  same  salary  that  Herschel  had  been  receiving — 
two  hundred  pounds  a  year.  She  also  took  charge  of 
the  Court  Gossip,  with  various  volunteer  assistants. 

153 


LITTLE  "Gold,  as  well  as  stars,  glitters  for  astronomers," 
JOURNEYS  said  little  Miss  Burney.  "Mrs.  Pitt  is  very  rich,  meek, 
quiet,  rather  pretty  and  quite  unobjectionable." 
But  poor  Caroline !  It  nearly  broke  her  heart.  William 
•was  her  idol — she  lived  but  for  him — now  she  seemed 
to  be  replaced.  She  moved  away  into  a  modest  cottage 
of  her  own,  resolved  that  she  would  not  be  an  encum- 
brance to  any  one.  She  thought  she  -was  going  into  a 
decline,  and  would  not  live  long  anyway, — she  was  so 
pale  and  slight  that  Miss  Burney  said  it  took  two  of 
her  to  make  a  shadow. 

But  we  get  a  glimpse  of  Caroline's  energy  when  we 
find  her  writing  home  "explaining  how  she  had  just 
painted  her  house,  inside  and  out,  with  her  own  hands. 
Q  Things  are  never  so  bad  as  they  seem.  It  was  not 
very  long  before  William  was  sending  for  Caroline  to 
come  and  help  him  out  with  his  mathematical  calcu- 
lations. 

Later,  when  a  fine  boy  baby  arrived  in  the  Herschel 
solar  system,  Caroline  forgave  all  and  came  to  take 
care  of  what  she  called  "the  Herschel  planetoid."  She 
loved  this  baby  as  her  own,  and  all  of  the  pent-up 
motherhood  in  her  nature  went  out  to  little  "  Sir  John 
Herschel,"  the  knighthood  having  been  conferred  on 
him  by  Caroline  before  he  was  a  month  old. 
Mrs.  Herschel  was  beautiful  and  amiable,  and  she  and 
Caroline  became  genuine  sisters  in  spirit.  Each  had 
her  own  work  to  do;  they  were  not  in  competition 
save  in  their  love  for  the  baby. 

As  the  boy  grew,  Caroline  took  upon  herself  the  task 
154 


of  teaching  him  astronomy,  quite  to  the  amusement      LITTLE 
of  the  father  and  mother.  JOURNEYS 

Fanny  Burney  now  comes  in  with  a  little  flung-off 
nebulae  to  the  effect  that  "  Herschel  is  quite  the  happiest 
man  in  the  kingdom." 

There  is  a  most  charming  little  biography  of  Caroline 
Herschel,  written  by  the  wife  of  Sir  John  Herschel, 
wherein  some  very  gentle  foibles  are  laid  bare,  and 
where  at  the  same  time  tribute  is  paid  to  a  great  and 
beautiful  spirit. 

The  idea  that  Caroline  was  not  going  to  live  long  after 
the  marriage  of  her  brother,  was  "greatly  exagger- 
ated " — she  lived  to  be  ninety-eight,  a  century  lacking 
two  years !  Her  mind  was  bright  to  the  last — when 
ninety  she  sang  at  a  concert  given  for  the  benefit  of  an 
old  ladies'  home.  At  ninety-six  she  danced  a  minuet 
with  the  King  of  Prussia,  and  requested  that  worthy 
not  to  introduce  her  as  "  the  woman  astronomer,  be- 
cause, you  know,  I  was  only  the  assistant  of  my 
brother!" 

William  Herschel  died  in  his  eighty-fourth  year,  with 
his  fame  at  full,  honored,  respected,  beloved. 
Sir  John  Herschel,  his  son,  was  worthy  to  be  called 
the  son  of  his  father.  He  was  an  active  worker  in  the 
field  of  science.  A  strong,  yet  gentle  man,  with  no 
jealousy  nor  whim  in  his  nature.  "  His  life  was  full  of 
the  docility  of  a  sage  and  the  innocence  of  a  child." 
He  died  at  Collingwood,  May  11,  1871,  and  his  dust 
rests  in  Westminster  Abbey  close  beside  the  grave  of 
England's  most  famous  scholar,  Sir  Isaac  Newton. 

155 


HERE  ENDETH  THE  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  THE  HOME 
OF  HERSCHEL,  AS  WRITTEN  BY  ELBERT  HUBBARD. 
THE  BORDERS,  INITIALS  AND  ORNAMENTS  DESIGNED 
BY  ROYCROFT  ARTISTS,  THE  PRESSWORK  BY  LOUIS 
SCHELL,  &  THE  WHOLE  DONE  INTO  A  BOOK  BY  THE 
ROYCROFTERS  AT  THEIR  SHOP  WHICH  IS  IN  EAST 
AURORA,  NEW  YORK,  IN  MAY  OF  THE  YEAR  MCMV 


Che  Roycnoft   Inn 

FIRST-CLASS     IN     SOME     PARTICULARS 


Out-of-Door  Sleeping- Rooms  with  In- 
Door  Dressing-rooms  attached,  Elec- 
tric lights,  Steam  heat,  Turkish  baths, 
Running  water,  Art  Gallery,  Chapel, 
Camp-in-woods,  Library,  Music  Room, 
Ballroom,  Garden  and  Wood  Pile. 

Q  By  understanding  with  the  local  W.  C.  T. 
U.  we  supply  chaser  only. 

Parties  without  baggage  will  receive  special 
attention  from  Ali  Baba. 

Hammers  for  Knockers  without  extra  charge. 
WRITE     FOR     CIRCULAR 

THE     ROYCROFTERS 

East  Aurora,  which  is  in  Erie  County,  N.  Y. 


HE  highest  faculty  of  mind  is  the  constructive 
faculty — the  faculty  that  builds. 
A  man  who  builds  an  industry  must  be  a 
strong  man.  The  man  that  builds  is  not  to  be 
feared.  He  is  helping  to  organize  the  world  for 
our  benefit,  and  he  is  keeping  our  building 
faculties  in  practice.  The  trouble  with  the  old 
and  narrower  culture  was  that  it  was  receptive 
rather  than  constructive. 

In  the  early  days  of  our  history,  we  produced 
men  of  a  very  broad  culture — a  culture  that  had  the  quality  of 
constructiveness.  Jefferson  was  such  a  man.  Dr.  Benjamin 
Franklin  was  such  a  man.  Theirs  was,  like  ours,  a  building  era. 
Q  Men,  then,  built  government  rather  than  industries.  But 
there  was  a  similarity  of  activity  then  and  now,  and  a  largeness 
of  mind  characterized  both  periods. 

Later,  there  came  a  time  when  the  dominant  type  of  the  culti- 
vated man  in  the  United  States  was  a  college  professor,  or  a 
literary  man  or  preacher.  Along  with  them,  and  after  them  came 
the  professional  scholar,  who  despised  practical  life.  He  had 
slight  knowledge  of  men.  His  judgment  was  not  always  sound. 
This  we  might  call  our  pedantic  era.  A  cultivated  man  of  the 
pedantic  era  was  not  a  building  man.  He  acquired  learning, 
and  he  did  little  else.  Nor  was  he  interesting,  and  it  is  hard  to 
call  an  uninteresting  man  cultivated. 

The  third  era  is  our  own  time  of  industrialism.  We  have  the 
pedant  yet;  for  a  man  may  become  a  scholar,  a  specialist,  by 
sheer  industry.  We  make  them  by  machinery,  both  in  our  own 
universities  and  abroad.  But,  when  we  have  a  cultivated  man 
at  all  in  our  industrial  era,  he  is  more  like  the  men  of  our  first 
constructive  epoch  than  he  is  like  the  pedant.  Industry  calls 
into  action  the  constructive  qualities,  as  statecraft  called  them 
into  action  a  century  or  more  ago. 

The  cultivated  man,  in  a  perfected,  democratic  industrial  life, 
will  be  the  most  widely  and  sanely  cultivated  man  that  has 
been  evolved. 

His  chief  interest  will  be  in  the  present;  and  the  great  forces 
of  our  industrial  time  will  make  him  saner,  broader,  better  and 
wiser. 

—WALTER    H.     PAGE. 


The  lollypop,  loblol- 
by,  lobscouse  loafers 
who  never  put  mag- 
azines back  where 
they  found  them  may 
have  a  slight  excuse 
— often  there  is  no 
regular  place  to  keep 
the  Good  Stuff.  This 
Combination  Pedes- 
tal and  Magazine  Rack  supplies  a 
need  in  every  house.  Solid  oak — very 
beautiful — weathered  oak  finish.  Sent 
to  the  faithful  for  eight  dollars. 
THE  ROY  CROFTERS 

FURNITURE     DEPARTMENT 
EAST     AURORA,     ERIE    COUNTY,    NEW     YORK 


To  all  Good  Philistines 

We  bind  your  books  and  magazines  (if 
you  want  us  to) — put  rugs  on  your  floors 
—books  on  your  shelves — furniture  in 
your  house.  Why  not  frame  your  pic- 
tures roycroftie — preserve  the  unities  ! 

^opcroft  ;ptmtre  jframes 

are  made  of  plain,  wide  pieces  of  quar- 
tered oak,  finished  usually  in  Belgian  or 
weathered  oak.  If  your  room  or  picture 
demands  another  shade,  we  can  make  it. 
QThe  frames  can  be  made  any  width 
for  any  size  pictures,  from  one  inch 
up  to  five,  and  specially  carved  if  de- 
sired. Simply  let  us  know  the  sizes  of 
your  pictures  and  we  will  do  the  rest. 

THE    ROYCROFTERS 

FURNITURE  DEPARTMENT 
EAST  AURORA,  NEW  YORK 


Some    Pamphlets    For    Sale 

The  Following  Little  Journeys  by  Klbert  Hubbard, 
In  Booklet  Form,  with  the  Portrait  of  Each  Subject 


Samuel  Adams 

John  Quincy  Adams 

Thomas  Jefferson 

John  Jay 

William  H.  Seward 

Michael  Angelo 

Rembrandt 

Rubens 

Meissonier 

Titian 

Van  Dyck 

Millet 

Ary  Scheffer 

Fortuny 

Joshua  Reynolds 

Landseer 

Gustave  Dore 

Chopin 

Paganini 

Mozart 

Bach 

Liszt 

Beethoven 

Handel 

Verdi 

Schumann 


Brahms 

Leonardo 

Thorwaldsen 

Gainsborough 

Botticelli 

Velasquez 

Corot 

Correggio 

Bellini 

Cellini 

Abbey 

Whistler 

Pericles 

Mark  Antony 

Savonarola 

Luther 

Burke 

Pitt 

Marat 

Patrick  Henry 

Starr  King 

Beecher 

Phillips 

Socrates 

Seneca 

Aristotle 


The  Price  is  Ten  Cents  Each  or  One  Dollar  for  Ten— as  long  as  they  last 

The    Rovcrofters,    East   Aurora,    Xew  York 


HE    ESSAY   ON 


NATURE 

by 
RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON 

Being  an  exact  reprint  of  the  first  book 
published  by  Emerson.  First  issued  in  1836, 
anonymously,  at  which  time  the  author 
was  thirty-three  years  old.  In  this  book 
we  find  the  whole  work  of  the  greatest  of 
American  writers  foreshadowed.  It  is  a 
prospectus,  a  revelation  and  a  prophecy. 
To  every  lover  of  Emerson  this  essay  ranks 
with  Holy  Writ,  and  in  the  first  edition  it 
is  almost  priceless. 

Bound  in  limp  leather,  silk  lined,  per  volume,    $  2.00 
A  few  on    Imperial  Japan  Vellum,  in  three- 
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THE    ROYCROFTERS 

EAST  AURORA,  ERIE  COUNTY,  NEW  YORK  STATE 


,E  are  told  by  men  of  science  that 
all  the  ventures  of  mariners  on  the 
sea,  all  that  countermarching  of 
tribes  and  races  that  confounds  old 
history  with  its  dust  and  rumor, 
sprang  from  nothing  more  abstruse  than  the 
laws  of  supply  and  demand,  and  a  certain  nat- 
ural instinct  for  cheap  rations.  To  any  one 
thinking  deeply,  this  will  seem  a  dull  and 
pitiful  explanation.  The  tribes  that  came 
swarming  out  of  the  North  and  East,  if  they 
were  indeed  pressed  onward  from  behind  by 
others,  were  drawn  at  the  same  time  by  the 
magnetic  influence  of  the  South  and  West. 
The  fame  of  other  lands  had  reached  them ; 
the  name  of  the  Eternal  City  rang  in  their 
ears;  they  were  not  colonists,  but  pilgrims; 
they  travelled  toward  wine  and  gold,  and  sun- 
shine, but  their  hearts  were  set  on  something 
higher.  That  divine  unrest,  that  old  stinging 
trouble  of  humanity  that  makes  all  high 
achievements  and  all  miserable  failure,  the 
same  that  spread  wings  with  Icarus,  the  same 
that  sent  Columbus  into  the  desolate  Atlan- 
tic, inspired  and  supported  these  barbarians 
on  their  perilous  march. — STEVENSON. 


Vol.  XVI 


JUNE,  1905 


No.  6 


tttle 


Co  Homes  of  (great  §>eietittsts 

By    ELBERT    HU8BMRD 


D  A  RWI  N 


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LITTLE  JOURNEYS  BY  ELBERT  HUBBARD,  FOR 
1905  WILL  BE  TO  THE  HOMES  OF  GREAT  SCIEN- 
TISTS, AND  THE  SUBJECTS  ARE  AS  FOLLOWS: 


Copernicus 

Galileo 

Sir  Isaac  Newton 

Humboldt 

Sir  Wm.  H.  Herschel 

Charles  R.  Darwin 


Ernst  Haeckel 
Carl  von  Linnaeus 
Thomas  H.  Huxley 
John  Tyndall 
Alfred  Russel  Wallace 
John  Fiske 


Address  THE   ROYCROFTERS  at  their  Shop, 
which  is  at  East  Aurora,  Erie  County,  New  York 


Entered  at  the  postoffice  at  East  Aurora,  New  York,  for  transmission  as 
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TO  PISCATORIALISTS 

)E  JEFFERSON  was  not  the  only  busy 
man  who  found  time  to  practice  the 
Izaak  Walton  proclivity.  In  fact,  the 
busiest  men  who  do  the  work  of  the  world 
i  are  the  men  who  every  little  while  shoul- 
der the  rod  and  take  to  the  river.  Walton  once  said 
that  the  reason  fishing  has  always  been  so  popular  is 
because  man  used  to  be  a  fish  himself — oh,  so  many 
aeons  ago!  However,  it  is  a  fact  that  fishing  is  the 
oldest  and  most  popular  sport  known  and  the  only 
one  that  really  pays. 

FOREST,  LAKE  AND  RIVER  is  the  title  of  a 
sumptuous  two-volume  work  prepared  and  published 
by  a  number  of  excellent  men  who  have  fished  more 
than  most  of  us.  It  tells  about  every  fish,  great  and 
small,  found  in  the  waters  of  New  England  and 
Eastern  Canada,  that  country  known  as  the  Fisher- 
man's Paradise  (have  you  never  been  there?). 
Strongly  endorsed  by  the  U.  S.  Division  of  Fisher- 
ies. Bound  in  boards,  limp  face,  silk  lined,  with 
nearly  100  superb  illustrations  and  reproductions  of 
oil  paintings.  Over  600  pages.  Edition  limited  to 
3oO  copies.  T  Price  per  set,  8-250.00.  Address 

FRANK  M.   JOHNSON 

ROYAL  ANGLER 
43  TREMONT  STREET,  BOSTON,  MASS 


THE     paragraph     opposite 
this   we   have    printed   in 
large  type  with  a  special 
ornamental   border,   hand-illum- 
ined, suitable  for  framing  &  &  & 
Price,  One  Dollar;   framed  roy- 
croftie  in  Weathered  Oak,    Two 
Dollars   and  Fifty  Cents  each  ^ 

THE    ROYCROFTERS 
East  Aurora,  Erie  Co.,  New  York 


VERY  employe  pays  for  superin- 
tendence and  inspection  Ji>  Some 
pay  more  and  some  less.  That  is  to 
say,  a  dollar-a-day  man  would  re- 
ceive two  dollars  a  day  were  it  not 
for  the  fact  that  some  one  has  to 
think  for  him,  look  after  him  and 
supply  the  will  that  holdshim  to  his 
task.  The  result  is  that  he  contrib- 
utes to  the  support  of  those  who  superintend  him. 
Make  no  mistake  about  this:  incompetence  &  dis- 
inclination require  supervision,  and  they  pay  for 
it  and  no  one  else  does.  The  less  you  require 
looking  after,  the  more  able  you  are  to  standalone 
and  complete  your  tasks,  the  greater  your  reward. 
Then,  if  you  cannot  only  do  your  own  -work,  but 
direct  intelligently  and  effectively  the  efforts  of 
others,  your  reward  is  in  exact  ratio,  &  the  more 
people  you  can  direct,  &  the  higher  the  intelligence 
you  can  rightly  lend,  the  more  valuable  is  your  life. 
((The  Law  of  Wages  is  as  sure  and  exact  in  its 
working  as  the  Law  of  the  Standard  of  Life.  You 
can  go  to  the  very  top  and  take  Edison  for  instance, 
who  sets  a  vast  army  at  work  and  wins  not  only 
deathless  fame,  but  a  fortune,  great  beyond  the 
dreams  of  avarice.  And  going  down  the  scale,  you 
can  find  men  who  will  not  work  of  themselves  and 
no  one  can  make  them  work,  and  so  their  lives  are 
worth  nothing,  and  they  are  a  tax  and  a  burden  on 
the  community.  Do  your  work  so  well  that  it  will 
require  no  supervision,  and  by  doing  your  own 
thinking  you  will  save  the  expense  of  hiring  some 
one  to  think  for  you.— ELBERT  HUBBARD 


HE  attention  of  the  entire  country  is  being  at- 
tracted  to  the  Railroad  Gardening  of  the  Bos- 
ton  $  Albany.  Q  It  has  converted  its  principal 
suburban  route,  "The  Circuit"  thru  Brookline, 
Riverside,  Newtons  and  Wellesley,  into  beautiful 
public  parks,  and  is  reaching  out  to  Worcester, 
Springfield,  and  Albany.  The  suburbanite  along 
the  Boston  8§  Albany  has  a  ride  thru  these  parks 
every  day,  and  not  only  the  tourist  and  sightseer, 
but  the  landscape  gardener,  and  other  railroads  are 
all  studying  the  work  of  this  road.  CJ  The  approaches 
to  the  depots  are  along  graveled  walks  with  stretches 
of  green  turf  bordered  with  shrubbery.  The  depots 
have  vines  clambering  over  them,  and  every  pond, 
crooked  place,  and  rocky  gulch  instead  of  being  an 
eyesore,  was  found  to  be  only  an  opportunity  for 
making  the  spot  doubly  beautiful.  Q  The  peculiar 
feature  of  its  gardening  is  that  it  is  designed  to  be 
effective  all  the  year  round,  even  in  winter.  Many 
stubborn  problems  confronted  the  management, 
but  they  have  all  been  solved,  by  the  Boston  § 
Albany  Railroad  in  such  a  manner  as  to  contribute 
an  important  chapter  to  the  history  of  the  art  of 
landscape  gardening. 

NOTE— One  writer  has  defined  it  as  the  "Garden  Railroad";  another  the 
"Railroad  Beautiful."  Q  The  Passenger  Department  has  been  issuing 
for  general  distribution  a  series  of  illustrated  brochures  by  eminent 
writers,  the  latest  being  entitled  "A  Study  in  Railroad  Gardening,"  by 
F.  A.  Arnold  of  Suburban  Life,  Boston,  with  illustrations  by  J.  Horace 
McFarland,  President  American  Civic  Association,  Harrisburg,  Pa. 
Copies  of  this  publication  may  be  secured  by  addressing  the  Boston  office. 


The  Way  to  be  a  Thinker 

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those  who  have  seasoned  their  energy  with  the  spice  of  originality — and 
originality  means  the  habit  of  clear  and  fresh  thinking.  Originality  can 
be  developed — and  is  developed — by  contact  with  original  minds.  Even 
the  best  of  us  have  a  tendency  to  fall  into  mental  ruts,  to  go  plodding 
on,  year  after  year,  in  the  same  track,  to  do  things  without  knowing 
precisely  why.  The  way  to  keep  alive,  the  way  to  be  original,  the  way 
to  be  a  success,  is  to  talk  with  brainy  people  and  to  read  books  that 
make  you  think.  That  's  the  reason  the 

NEW    SCIENCE    LIBRARY 

is  a  cure  for  mental  paralysis.  It  contains  the  best  work  of  Darwin, 
Huxley,  Spencer,  Tyndall,  and  other  great  leaders  of  modern  thought. 
It  will  tell  you  what  the  famous  Darwinian  theory  is;  how  the  planets 
are  weighed  and  their  motions  charted;  what  radium  is;  what  ideas 
Herbert  Spencer  brought  into  the  world;  how  liquid  air  is  made  and 
used — and  ten  thousand  other  interesting  things  you  have  always 
wanted  to  know.  It  is  a  work  to  be  read  and  enjoyed,  for  it  is  written  in 
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Name Address 


DAME  NATURE  HINTS 
When  the  Food  Is  Not  Suited. 


When  Nature  gives  her  signal  that  something  is  wrong  it  is 
generally  with  the  food;  the  old  Dame  is  always  faithful  and 
one  should  act  at  once. 

To  put  off  the  change  is  to  risk  that  which  may  be  irrepa- 
rable. An  Arizona  man  says  : 

"For  years  I  could  not  safely  eat  any  breakfast.  I  tried  all 
kinds  of  breakfast  foods,  but  they  were  all  soft,  starchy  messes, 
which  gave  me  distressing  headaches.  I  drank  strong  coffee  too, 
which  appeared  to  benefit  me  at  the  time,  but  added  to  the 
headaches  afterwards.  Toast  and  coffee  were  no  better,  for  I 
found  the  toast  very  constipating. 

' '  A  friend  persuaded  me  to  quit  the  old  coffee  and  the  starchy 
breakfast  foods,  and  use  Postum  Coffee  and  Grape-Nuts  instead. 
I  shall  never  regret  taking  his  advice.  I  began  using  them 
three  months  ago. 

"The  change  they  have  worked  in  me  is  wonderful.  I  now 
have  no  more  of  the  distressing  sensations  in  my  stomach  after 
eating,  and  I  never  have  any  headaches.  I  have  gained  12 
pounds  in  weight  and  feel  better  in  every  way.  Grape-Nuts 
make  a  delicious  as  well  as  a  nutritious  dish,  and  I  find  that 
Postum  Coffee  is  easily  digested  and  never  produces  dyspepsia 
symptoms." 

Name  given  by  Postum  Co.,  Battle  Creek,  Mich. 

There  's  a  reason. 

Get  the  little  book,  "The  Road  to  WeUville,"  in  each  pkg. 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 

TO  HOMES 
OF  GREAT 
SCIENTISTS 

attain 


WRITTEN  BY  ELBERT 
HUBBARD  AND  DONE 
INTO  BOOK  FORM  BY 

THE  ROYCROFTERS  AT 
THEIR  SHOP,  WHICH 
is  IN  EAST  AURORA, 
NEW  YORK,  A.D.  MCMV 


CHARLES    DARWIN 


FEEL  most  deeply  that  this  whole  question  of  creation  is  too 
profound  for  human  intellect.  A  dog  might  as  well  speculate  on 
the  mind  of  Newton  !  Let  each  man  hope  and  believe  what  he  can. 
CHARLES  DARWIN  to  Asa  Gray. 


.4^  ONE  have  fought  better,  and  none  have  been  more  fortunate 
31*  than  Charles  Darwin.  He  found  a  great  truth  trodden  underfoot, 
reviled  by  bigots,  and  ridiculed  by  all  the  world ;  he  lived  long  enough 
to  see  it,  chiefly  by  his  own  efforts,  irrefragably  established  in  science, 
inseparably  incorporated  into  the  common  thoughts  of  men.  What 
shall  a  man  desire  more  than  this  ? 

THOMAS  HUXLEY, 
Address,  April  27,  1882 


•to 


Darwin 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY' 

OF 


CHARLES    DARWIN 

>VOLUTION  is  everywhere  at  work,  even 
in  the  matter  of  jokes.  Once  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  Disraeli,  who  prided  him- 
self on  his  scholarship  as  well  as  his 
Hyperion  curl,  interrupted  a  speaker  and 
sharply  corrected  him  on  a  matter  of 
history. 

"  I  would  rather  be  a  gentleman  than  a 
scholar  !  "  the  man  replied. 
"My  friend  is  seldom  either,"  came  the 
quick  response. 

When  Thomas  Brackett  Reed  was 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, a  member  once  took  exception  to 
a  ruling  of  the  "Czar,"  and  having  in 
mind  Reed's  supposed  presidential  as- 
pirations closed  his  protests  with  the 
thrust,  "  I  would  rather  be  right  than 
president." 

"The  gentleman  will  never  be  either," 
came  the  instant  retort. 
But  some  years  before  the  reign  of  the 
American  Czar,  Gladstone,  Premier  of 
England,  said,  "  I  would  rather  be  right 
and  believe  in  the  Bible,  than  excite  a 
body  of  curious,  infidelic,  so-called  sci- 
entists to  unbecoming  wonder  by  tracing 
their  ancestry  to  a  troglodyte." 

157 


LITTLE      And  Huxley  replied,  "  I,  too,  would  rather  be  right — 
JOURNEYS      I  would  rather  be  right  than  Premier." 

Charles  Darwin  was  a  Gentle  Man.  He  was  the  great- 
est naturalist  of  his  time,  and  a  more  perfect  gentle- 
man never  lived.  His  son  Francis  said,  "  I  cannot 
remember  of  ever  hearing  my  father  utter  an  unkind 
or  hasty  word.  If  in  his  presence  some  one  was  being 
harshly  criticised  he  always  thought  of  something  to 
say  in  way  of  palliation  and  excuse." 
One  of  his  companions  on  the  "  Beagle,"  who  saw  him 
daily  for  five  years  on  that  memorable  trip  wrote,  "A 
protracted  sea  voyage  is  a  most  severe  test  of  friend- 
ship, and  Darwin  was  the  only  man  on  our  ship,  or 
that  I  ever  heard  of,  who  stood  the  ordeal.  He  never 
lost  his  temper  or  made  an  unkind  remark." 
Captain  Fitz-Roy  of  the  "Beagle"  was  a  disciplina- 
rian, and  absolute  in  his  authority,  as  a  ship- captain 
must  be. 

The  ship  had  just  left  one  of  the  South  American  ports 
where  the  captain  had  gone  ashore  and  been  enter- 
tained by  a  coffee-planter.  On  this  plantation  all  the 
work  was  done  by  slaves,  who,  no  doubt,  were  very 
well  treated.  The  Captain  thought  that  negroes  well 
cared  for  were  very  much  better  off  than  if  free.  And 
further,  he  related  how  the  owner  had  called  up  va- 
rious slaves  and  had  the  Captain  ask  them  if  they 
wished  freedom,  and  the  answer  was  always,  "No." 
Q  Darwin  here  interposed  by  asking  the  Captain  what 
he  thought  the  answer  of  a  slave  was  worth  when  being 
interrogated  in  the  presence  of  his  owner.  Here 
158 


Fitz-Roy  flew  into  a  passion,  berating  the  volunteer      LITTLE 
naturalist,  and  suggested  a  taste  of  the  rope's  end  in     JOURNEYS 
lieu  of  logic. 

Darwin  made  no  reply,  and  seemingly  did  not  hear  the 
uncalled-for  chidings. 

In  a  few  hours  a  sailor  handed  him  a  note  from  Cap- 
tain Fitz-Roy  full  of  abject  apology  for  having  so  for- 
gotten himself.  Darwin  was  then  but  twenty-two  years 
old,  but  the  poise  and  patience  of  the  young  man  won 
the  respect,  then  the  admiration  and  finally  the  affec- 
tion of  every  man  on  board  that  ship.  This  attitude  of 
kindness,  patience  and  good  will  formed  the  strongest 
attribute  of  Darwin's  nature,  and  to  these  godlike 
qualities  he  was  heir  from  a  royal  line  of  ancestry.  No 
man  was  ever  more  blest — more  richly  endowed  by 
his  parents  with  love  and  intellect — than  Darwin.  And 
no  man  ever  repaid  the  debt  of  love  more  fully — all 
that  he  had  received  he  gave  again. 
Darwin  is  the  Saint  of  Science. 

He  proves  the  possible  ;  and  when  mankind  shall  have 
evolved  to  a  point  where  such  men  will  be  the  rule, 
not  the  exception — as  one  in  a  million — then  and  not 
till  then  can  we  say  we  are  a  civilized  people. 
Charles  Darwin  was  not  only  the  greatest  thinker  of 
his  time  (with  possibly  one  exception),  but  in  his 
simplicity  and  earnestness,  in  his  limpid  love  for  truth 
— his  perfect  willingness  to  abandon  his  opinion  if  he 
were  found  to  be  wrong — in  all  these  things  he  proved 
himself  the  greatest  man  of  his  time. 
Yet  it  is  absurd  to  try  to  separate  the  scientist  from 

159 


LITTLE  the  father,  neighbor  and  friend.  Darwin's  love  for  truth 
JOURNEYS  as  a  scientist  was  what  lifted  him  out  of  the  fog 
of  whim  and  prejudice  and  set  him  apart  as  a  man. 
Q  He  had  no  time  to  hate.  He  had  no  time  to  indulge 
in  foolish  debates  and  struggle  for  rhetorical  mastery 
— he  had  his  work  to  do.  That  statesmen  like  Glad- 
stone misquoted  him,  and  churchmen  like  Wilberforce 
reviled  him — these  things  were  as  naught  to  Darwin — 
his  face  was  toward  the  sunrising.  To  be  able  to  know 
the  truth,  and  to  state  it,  were  vital  issues — whether 
the  truth  was  accepted  by  this  man  or  that,  was  quite 
immaterial,  excepting  possibly  to  the  man  himself.  In 
Darwin's  nature  there  was  no  resentment. 
Only  love  is  immortal — hate  is  a  negative  condition. 
It  is  love  that  animates,  beautifies,  benefits,  refines — 
creates.  So  firmly  was  this  truth  fixed  in  the  heart  of 
Charles  Darwin,  that  throughout  his  long  life  the  only 
things  he  feared  and  shunned  were  prejudice  and  hate. 
"They  hinder  and  blind  a  man  to  truth,"  he  said,  "a 
scientist  must  only  love." 


'MERSON  has  been  mentioned  as  the  cul- 
minating'flower  of  seven  generations   of 
New    England   culture.    Charles    Darwin 
seems     a    similar    culminating    product. 
Surely  he  showed   rare  judgment  in  the 
selection  of  his  grandparents.  His  grand- 
father on  his  father's  side  was  Dr.  Erasmus  Darwin, 
a  poet,  a  naturalist,  and  a  physician  so  discerning  that 
160 


\ 


he  once  wrote,  "  The  science  of  medicine  will  some  LITTLE 
time  resolve  itself  into  a  science  of  prevention  rather  JOURNEY! 
than  a  matter  of  cure.  Man  was  made  to  be  well,  and 
the  best  medicine  I  know  of  is  an  active  and  intelligent 
interest  in  the  world  of  nature."  Erasmus  Darwin  had 
the  felicity  to  have  his  biography  written  in  German, 
and  he  has  his  place  in  the  Encyclopedia  Brittanica 
quite  independent  of  that  of  his  gifted  grandson. 
Charles  Darwin's  grandfather  on  his  mother's  side 
was  Josiah  "Wedgwood,  one  of  the  most  versatile 
men.  He  was  as  fine  in  spirit  as  those  exquisite  de- 
signs by  Flaxman  that  you  will  see  today  on  the 
Wedgwood  pottery.  Josiah  Wedgwood  was  a  business 
man — an  organizer,  and  he  was  beyond  this,  an  artist, 
a  naturalist,  a  sociologist  and  a  lover  of  his  race.  His 
portrait  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  reveals  a  man  of  rare 
intelligence,  and  his  biography  is  as  interesting  as  a 
novel  by  Kipling.  His  space  in  the  Encyclopedia  Brit- 
tanica is  even  more  important  than  that  occupied  by 
his  dear  friend  and  neighbor,  Dr.  Erasmus  Darwin. 
The  hand  of  the  Potter  did  not  shake  when  Josiah 
"Wedgwood  was  made.  Josiah  Wedgwood  and  Dr. 
Darwin  had  mutually  promised  their  children  to  each 
other  in  marriage.  Wedgwood  became  rich  and  he 
made  numerous  other  men  rich,  and  he  enriched  the 
heart  and  the  intellect  of  England  by  setting  before  it 
beautiful  things,  and  by  living  an  earnest,  active  and 
beautiful  life. 

Josiah  Wedgwood   coined  the  word  "  queensware." 
He    married    his    cousin    Sarah    Wedgwood.    Their 

161 


LITTLE  daughter,  Susannah  Wedgwood,  married  Dr.  Robert 
JOURNEYS  Darwin,  and  Charles  Darwin,  their  son,  married  Emma 
Wedgwood,  a  daughter  of  JoSiah  Wedgwood  the  Sec- 
ond. Caroline  Darwin,  a  sister  of  Charles  Darwin, 
married  Josiah  Wedgwood  the  Third.  Let  those  who 
have  the  time  work  out  this  origin  of  species  in  detail 
and  show  us  the  relationship  of  the  Darwins  and 
Wedgwoods.  And  I  hope  we  '11  hear  no  more  about 
the  folly  of  cousins  marrying,  when  Charles  Darwin  is 
before  us  as  an  example  of  natural  selection. 
From  his  mother  Darwin  inherited  those  traits  of  gen- 
tleness, insight,  purity  of  purpose,  patience  and  per- 
sistency that  set  him  apart  as  a  marked  man. 
The  father  of  Charles  Darwin,  Dr.  Robert  Darwin,  was 
a  successful  physician  of  Shrewsbury.  His  marriage  to 
Susannah  Wedgwood  filled  his  heart,  and  also  placed 
him  on  a  firm  financial  footing,  and  he  seemed  to  take 
his  choice  of  patients.  Dr.  Darwin  was  a  man  devoted 
to  his  family,  respected  by  his  neighbors,  and  he  lived 
long  enough  to  see  his  son  recognized,  greatly  to  his 
surprise,  as  one  of  England's  foremost  scientists. 
Charles  Darwin  in  youth  was  rather  slow  in  intellect, 
and  in  form  and  feature  far  from  handsome.  Physically 
he  was  never  strong.  In  disposition  he  was  gentle  and 
most  lovable.  His  mother  died  when  he  was  eight 
years  of  age,  and  his  three  older  sisters  then  mothered 
him.  Between  them  all  existed  a  tie  of  affection,  very 
gentle,  and  very  firm.  The  girls  knew  that  Charles 
would  become  an  eminent  man — just  how  they  could 
not  guess — but  he  would  be  a  leader  of  men — they  felt 
162 


it  in  their  hearts.  It  was  all  the  beautiful  dream  that  LITTLE 
the  mother  has  for  her  babe  as  she  sings  to  the  man-  JOURNEY! 
child  a  lullaby  as  the  sun  goes  down. 
In  his  autobiographical  sketch,  written  when  he  was 
past  sixty,  Darwin  mentions  this  faith  and  love  of  his 
sisters,  and  says,  "  Personally,  I  never  had  much  am- 
bition, but  when  at  college  I  felt  that  I  must  work,  if 
for  no  other  reason,  so  as  not  to  disappoint  my  sisters." 
Q  At  school  Charles  was  considerable  of  a  grubber,  he 
worked  hard  because  he  felt  that  it  was  his  duty.  Eng- 
lish boarding-schools  have  always  taught  things  out  of 
season,  and  very  often  have  succeeded  in  making 
learning  wholly  repugnant.  Perhaps  that  is  the  reason 
that  nine  men  out  of  ten  who  go  to  college  cease  all 
study  as  soon  as  they  stand  on  "the  threshold,"  look- 
ing at  life  ere  they  seize  it  by  the  tail  to  snap  its  head 
off.  To  them  education  is  one  thing  and  life  another. 
Q  But  with  many  headaches  and  many  heartaches 
Charles  got  through  Cambridge  and  then  was  sent  to 
attend  lectures  at  the  University  of  Edinburgh.  Of  one 
lecturer  in  Scotland  he  says,  "The  good  man  was 
really  more  dull  than  his  books,  and  how  I  escaped 
without  all  science  being  utterly  distasteful  to  me  I 
hardly  know." 

To  Cambridge,  Darwin  owed  nothing  but  the  associa- 
tion with  other  minds,  yet  this  was  much,  and  almost 
justifies  the  college.  "  Send  your  sons  to  college  and 
the  boys  will  educate  them,"  said  Emerson. 
The  most  beneficent  influence  for  Darwin  at  Cambridge 
was  the  friendship  between  himself  and  Professor 

163 


LITTLE  Henslow.  Darwin  became  known  as  "the  man  who 
JOURNEYS  walks  with  Henslow."  Henslow  taught  botany,  and 
took  his  classes  on  tramps  afield  and  on  barge  rides 
down  the  river,  giving  out-of-door  lectures  on  the  way. 
This  common-sense  way  of  teaching  appealed  to  Dar- 
win greatly,  and  although  he  did  not  at  Cambridge 
take  botany  as  a  study,  yet  when  Henslow  had  an  out- 
of-door  class  he  usually  managed  to  go  along.  In  his 
autobiography  Darwin  gives  great  credit  to  this  very 
gentle  and  simple  soul,  who,  although  not  being  great 
as  a  thinker,  yet  could  animate  and  arouse  a  pleasurable 
interest.  Henslow  was  once  admonished  by  the  faculty 
for  his  lack  of  discipline,  and  young  Darwin  came  near 
getting  himself  into  difficulty  by  declaring,  "Professor 
Henslow  teaches  his  pupils  in  love,  the  others  think 
they  know  a  better  way  !  " 

The  hope  of  his  father  and  sisters  was  that  Charles 
Darwin  would  become  a  clergyman.  For  the  army  he 
had  no  taste  whatsoever,  and  at  twenty-one  the  only 
thing  seemed  to  be  the  Church.  Not  that  the  young 
man  was  filled  with  religious  zeal — far  from  that — but 
one  must  do  something,  you  know.  Up  to  this  time  he 
had  studied  in  a  desultory  way,  he  had  also  dreamed 
and  tramped  the  fields.  He  had  done  considerable 
grouse  shooting  and  had  developed  a  little  too  much 
skill  in  that  particular  line.  To  paraphrase  Herbert 
Spencer,  to  shoot  fairly  well  is  a  manly  accomplish- 
ment, but  to  shoot  too  well  is  evidence  of  an  ill-spent 
youth.  Dr.  Darwin  was  having  fears  that  his  son  was 
going  to  be  an  idle  sportsman,  and  he  was  urging  the 
164 


divinity  school.  The  real  fact  was  that  sportsmanship      LITTLE 
was  already  becoming  distasteful  to  young  Darwin,     JOURNEYS 
and  his  hunting  expeditions  were  now  largely  carried 
on  with  a  botanist's  drum  and  a  geologist's  hammer. 
Q  But  to  the  practical  Doctor  these  things  were  no  bet- 
ter than  the  gun — it  was  idling,  anyway.  Natural  His- 
tory as  a  pastime  was  excellent,  and  sportsmanship 
for  exercise  and  recreation  had  its  place,  but  the  busi- 
ness of  life  must  not  be  neglected — Charles  should  get 
himself  to  a  divinity  school  and  quickly,  too. 
Things   urged    become   repellant — and    Charles    was 
groping  around  for  an  excuse  when  a  letter  came  from 
Professor  Henslow  saying,  among  other  things,  that 
the  Government  was  about  to  send  a  ship  around  the 
world  on  a  scientific  surveying  tour,  especially  to  map 
the  coast  of  Patagonia,  &  other  parts  of  South  Amer- 
ica and  Australia.  A  volunteer  naturalist  was  wanted 
— board  and  passage  free,  but  the  volunteer  was  to 
supply  his  own  clothes  and  instruments. 
The  proposition  gave  Charles  a  great  thrill :  he  gave  a 
gulp  and  a  gasp  and  went  in  search  of  his  father.  The 
father  saw  nothing  in  the  plan  beyond  the  fact  that  the 
Government  was  going  to  get  several  years'  work  out 
of  some  foolish  young  man,  for  nothing — gadzooks ! 
Charles  insisted — he  wanted  to  go !  He  urged  that  on 
this  trip  he  would  be  to  but  very  little  expense.  "You  say 
I  have  cost  you  much,  but  the  fellow  who  can  spend 
money  on  board  ship  must  be  very  clever." 
"  But  you  are  a  very  clever  young  man,  they  say,"  the 
father  replied. 

165 


LITTLE  That  night  Charles  again  insisted  on  discussing  the 
JOURNEYS  matter.  The  father  was  exasperated  and  exclaimed, 
"  Go  and  find  me  one  sane  man  who  will  endorse  your 
wild-goose  chase  and  I  will  give  my  consent." 
Charles  said  no  more — he  would  find  that  "sane  man." 
But  he  knew  perfectly  well  that  if  any  average  person 
endorsed  the  plan  his  father  would  declare  the  man 
was  insane  and  the  proof  of  it  lay  in  the  fact  that  he 
endorsed  the  wild-goose  chase. 

In  the  morning  Charles  started  of  his  own  accord  to 
see  Henslow.  Henslow  would  endorse  the  trip,  but 
both  parties  knew  that  Dr.  Darwin  would  not  accept 
a  mere  college  professor  as  sane.  Charles  went  home 
and  tramped  thirty  miles  across  the  country  to  the 
home  of  his  uncle,  Josiah  Wedgwood  the  Second. 
There  he  knew  he  had  an  advocate  for  anything  he 
might  wish  in  the  person  of  his  fair  cousin,  Emma. 
These  two  laid  their  heads  together,  made  a  plan  and 
stalked  their  prey. 

They  cornered  Josiah  the  Second  after  dinner  and 
showed  him  how  it  was  the  chance  of  a  lifetime — this 
trip  on  H.  M.  S.  the  "Beagle!"  Charles  wasn't 
adapted  for  a  clergyman,  anyway,  he  wanted  to  be  a 
ship-captain,  a  traveler,  a  discoverer,  a  scientist,  an 
author  like  Sir  John  Mandeville,  or  something  else. 
Josiah  the  Second  had  but  to  speak  the  word  and  Dr. 
Darwin  would  be  silenced,  and  the  recommendation  of 
so  great  a  man  as  Josiah  Wedgwood  would  secure  the 
place  Jt  & 

Josiah  the  Second  laughed — then  he  looked  sober.  He 
166 


agreed  with  the  proposition — it  was  the  chance  of  a 
lifetime.  He  would  go  back  home  with  Charles  and  put 
the  Doctor  straight. 
And  he  did. 

And  on  the  personal  endorsement  of  Josiah  Wedgwood 
and  Professor  Henslow,  Charles  Robert  Darwin  was 
duly  booked  as  Volunteer  Naturalist  in  Her  Majesty's 
service. 

JAPTAIN  FITZ-ROY  of  the  "Beagle" 
liked  Charles  Darwin  until  he  began  look- 
ing him  over  with  a  professional  eye. 
Then  he  declared  his  nose  was  too  large 
and  not  rightly  shaped,  besides,  he  was 
too  tall  for  his  weight — outside  of  these 
points  the  Volunteer  would  answer.  On  talking  with 
young  Darwin  further,  the  Captain  liked  him  better, 
and  the  imperfections  were  waived,  although  no 
promise  was  made  that  they  would  be  remedied.  In 
fact,  Captain  Fitz-Roy  liked  Charles  so  well  that  he  in- 
vited him  to  share  his  own  cabin  and  mess  with  him. 
The  sailors  seeing  this,  touched  respectful  forefingers 
to  their  caps  and  addressed  the  Volunteer  as  "Sir." 
CJThe  "  Beagle"  sailed  on  December  27th,  1831,  and 
it  was  four  years  and  ten  months  before  Charles  Dar- 
win again  saw  England. 

The  trip  decided  the  business  of  Darwin  for  the  rest 
of  his  life,  and  thereby  an  epoch  was  worked  in  the 
upward  and  onward  march  of  the  race. 

167 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


LITTLE  Captain  Fitz-Roy  of  the  British  Navy  was  but  twenty  - 
JOURNEYS  three  years  old.  He  was  a  draftsman,  a  geographer,  a 
mathematician  and  a  navigator.  He  had  sailed  'round 
the  world  as  a  plain  tar,  and  taken  his  kicks  and  cuffs 
with  good  grace.  At  the  Portsmouth  Naval  School  he 
had  won  a  gold  medal  for  proficiency  in  study,  and  an- 
other medal  had  been  given  him  for  heroism  in  leaping 
from  a  sailing  ship  into  the  sea  to  save  a  drowning 
sailor  jfc  jt> 

Let  us  be  fair — the  tight  little  island  has  produced  the 
men.  To  evolve  a  few  good  men  she  may  have  pro- 
duced many  millions  of  the  spawn  of  earth — but  let  the 
fact  stand :  England  has  produced  men. 
Here  was  a  beardless  youth,  slight  in  form,  silent  by 
habit,  but  so  well  thought  of  by  his  Government  that 
he  was  given  a  ship,  five  officers,  two  surgeons  and 
forty-one  picked  men  to  go  around  the  world  and  make 
measurements  of  certain  coral  reefs  and  map  the  dan- 
gerous coasts  of  Patagonia  and  Tierra  del  Fuego. 
The  ship  was  provisioned  for  two  years,  but  the  orders 
were,  "  Do  the  work,  no  matter  how  long  it  may  take, 
and  your  drafts  on  the  Government  will  be  honored." 
Q  Captain  Fitz-Roy  was  a  man  of  decision — he  knew 
just  where  he  wanted  to  go,  and  what  there  was  to  do. 
He  was  to  measure  and  map  dreary  wastes  of  tossing 
tide,  and  do  the  task  so  accurately  that  it  would  never 
have  to  be  done  again — his  maps  were  to  remain  for- 
ever a  solace,  a  safety  and  a  security  to  the  men  who 
go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships. 

England  has  certainly  produced  the  men — and  Fitz-  Roy 
168 


was  one  of  them.  Q  But  Fitz-Roy  is  now  known  to  us,      LITTLE 
not  for  his  maps  which  have  passed  into  the  mutual     JOURNEYS 
wealth  of  the  world,  but  because  he  took  on  his  trip, 
merely  as  an  afterthought,  a  volunteer  naturalist. 
Before  the  "Beagle"  sailed,  Captain    Fitz-Roy   and 
young  Mr.  Darwin  went  down  to  Portsmouth,  and  the 
Captain  showed  him  the  ship.  The  Captain  took  pains 
to  explain  the  worst.  It  was  to  be  at  least  two  years  of 
close,  unremitting  toil.  It  was  no  pleasure  excursion — 
there  were  no  amusements   provided,   no   cards,  no 
wine  on  the  table — the  fare  was  to  be  simple  in  the 
extreme  js>  & 

This  way  of  putting  the  matter  was  most  attractive  to 
Darwin — Fitz-Roy  became  a  hero  in  his  eyes  at  once. 
The  Captain's  manner  inspired  confidence — he  was  a 
man  who  did  not  have  to  be  amused  or  cajoled.  "  You 
will  be  left  alone  to  do  your  work,"  said  Fitz-Roy  to 
Darwin,  "and  I  must  have  the  cabin  to  myself  when  I 
ask  for  it." 
And  that  settled  it. 

Life  aboard  ship  is  like  life  in  jail.  It  means  freedom, 
freedom  from  interruption — you  have  your  evenings 
to  yourself,  and  the  days  as  well. 

Darwin  admired  every  man  on  board  the  ship,  and 
most  of  all,  the  man  who  selected  them,  and  so  wrote 
home  to  his  sisters.  He  admired  the  men  because  each 
was  intent  on  doing  his  work,  and  each  one  seemed  to 
assume  that  his  own  particular  work  was  the  most 
important. 

Second  Officer  Wickham  was  entrusted  to  see  that  the 

169 


LITTLE  ship  was  in  good  order,  and  so  thorough  was  he  that 
[OURNEYS  he  once  said  to  Darwin,  who  was  constantly  casting 
his  net  for  specimens,  "If  I  were  the  skipper  I  'd  soon 
have  you  and  your  beastly  belitterment  out  of  this  ship 
with  all  your  devilish,  damned  mess." 
And  Darwin,  much  amused,  wrote  this  down  in  his 
Journal,  and  added,  "Wickham  is  a  most  capital 
fellow." 

The  discipline  and  system  of  ship  life,  the  necessity  of 
working  in  a  small  space,  and  of  improving  the  calm 
weather,  and  seizing  every  moment  when  on  shore,  all 
tended  to  work  in  Darwin's  nature  exactly  the  habit 
that  was  needed  to  make  him  the  greatest  naturalist 
of  his  age. 

Every  sort  of  life  that  lived  in  the  sea  was  new  and 
wonderful  to  him.  Very  early  on  this  trip  Darwin  be- 
gan to  work  on  the  Cirripedia  (barnacles)  and  we  hear 
of  Captain  Fitz-Roy  obligingly  hailing  homeward- 
bound  ships,  and  putting  out  a  small  boat,  rowing 
alongside,  asking  politely,  to  the  great  astonishment 
of  the  party  hailed,  "  Would  you  oblige  us  with  a  few 
barnacles  off  the  bottom  of  your  good  ship?  "  All  this 
that  the  Volunteer,  who  was  dubbed  the  "  Flycatcher," 
might  have  something  upon  which  to  work. 
When  on  shore  a  sailor  was  detailed  by  Captain  Fitz- 
Roy  to  attend  the  "  Flycatcher,"  with  a  bag  to  carry 
the  specimens,  geological,  botanical  and  zoological,  and 
a  cabin  boy  was  set  apart  to  write  notes.  This  boy  who 
afterward  became  Governor  of  Queensland  and  a  K.  C. 
B.  used  in  after  years  to  boast  a  bit,  and  rightfully,  of 
170 


his  share  in  producing  "  The  Origin  of  Species."  Q  When      LITTLE 
urged  to  smoke,  Darwin  replied,  "  I  am  not  making     JOURNEYS 
any  new  necessities  for  myself." 

When  the  weather  was  rough  the  "  Flycatcher"  was 
sick,  much  to  Wickham's  delight,  but  if  the  ship  was 
becalmed,  Darwin  came  out  and  gloried  in  the  sun- 
shine, and  in  his  work  of  dissecting,  labeling  and  wri- 
ting memoranda  and  data.  The  sailors  might  curse  the 
weather,  he  did  not. 
Thus  passed  the  days. 

At  each  stop  many  specimens  were  secured  and  these 
were  to  be  sorted  and  sifted  out  at  leisure. 
On  shore  the  Captain  had  his  work  to  do,  and  it  was 
only  after  a  year  that  Darwin  accidentally  discovered 
that  the  sailor  who  was  sent  to  carry  his  specimens, 
was  always  armed  with  knife  &  revolver,  and  his  orders 
were  not  so  much  to  carry  what  Wickham  called, 
"  the  damn  plunder,"  as  to  see  that  no  harm  befell  the 
"  Flycatcher." 

Fitz-Roy's  interest  in  the  scientific  work  was  only 
general — longitude,  latitude,  his  twenty-four  chronom- 
eters, his  maps  and  constant  soundings,  with  minute 
records  kept  his  time  occupied.  For  Darwin  and  his 
specimens,  however,  he  had  a  constantly  growing  re- 
spect, and  when  the  long  five-years'  trip  was  ended 
Darwin  realized  that  the  gruff  and  grim  Captain  was 
indeed  his  friend.  Captain  Fitz-Roy  had  trouble  with 
everybody  on  board  in  turn,  thus  proving  his  impar- 
tiality, but  when  parting  was  nigh,  tears  came  to  his 
eyes  as  he  embraced  Darwin,  and  said,  with  prophetic 

171 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


yet  broken  words,  "  The  *  Beagle's'  voyage  may  be  re- 
membered more  through  you  than  me — I  hope  it  will 
be  so !  " 

And  Darwin,  too  moved  for  speech,  said  nothing  ex- 
cepting through  the  pressure  of  his  hand. 


'HE  idea  of  evolution  took  a  firm  hold 
upon  the  mind  of  Darwin,  in  an  instant, 
one  day  on  board  the  "Beagle."  From 
that  hour  the  thought  of  the  mutability  of 
species  was  the  one  controlling  impulse  of 
his  life. 

On  his  return  from  the  trip  'round  the  world  he  found 
himself  in  possession  of  an  immense  mass  of  speci- 
mens and  much  data  bearing  directly  upon  the  point 
that  creation  is  still  going  on.  That  he  could  ever  sort, 
sift  and  formulate  his  evidence  on  his  own  account,  he 
never  at  this  time  imagined.  Indeed,  about  all  he 
thought  he  could  do  was  to  present  his  notes  and 
specimens  to  some  scientific  society  in  the  hope  that 
some  of  its  members  would  go  ahead  and  use  the  ma- 
terial &  <£ 

With  this  thought  in  mind  he  opened  up  correspon- 
dence with  several  of  the  universities  and  various 
professors  of  science,  and  found,  to  his  dismay  that  no 
one  was  willing  to  even  read  his  notes,  much  less 
house,  prepare  for  preservation  and  index  his  thou- 
sands of  specimens. 

He  read  papers  before   different   scientific   societies, 
172 


however,  from  time  to  time,  and  gradually  in  London  LITTLE 
it  dawned  upon  the  few  thinkers  that  this  modest  and  JOURNEYS 
low-voiced  young  man  was  doing  a  little  thinking  on 
his  own  account.  One  man  to  whom  he  had  offered  the 
specimens  bluntly  explained  to  Darwin  that  his  speci- 
mens and  ideas  were  only  valuable  to  himself,  and  it 
was  folly  to  try  to  give  such  things  away.  Ideas  are 
like  children  and  "should  be  cared  for  by  their  parents, 
and  specimens  are  for  the  collector.  Seeing  the  depres- 
sion of  the  young  man,  this  friend  offered  to  present 
the  matter  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Exchequer.  Every- 
thing can  be  done  when  the  right  man  takes  hold  of  it 
— the  sum  of  one  thousand  pounds  was  appropriated 
by  the  Treasury  for  Charles  Darwin's  use  in  bringing 
out  a  Government  report  of  the  voyage  of  the  "Beagle." 
Q  And  Darwin  set  to  work,  refreshed,  rejoiced  and  en- 
couraged Jt>  ^ 

He  was  living  in  London  in  modest  quarters,  solitary 
and  alone.  He  was  not  handsome  and  he  lacked  the 
dash  and  flash  that  make  a  success  in  society.  On  a 
trip  up  to  his  old  home,  he  walked  across  the  country 
to  see  his  uncle,  Josiah  "Wedgwood  the  Second. 
When  he  left  it  was  arranged  that  he  should  return 
in  a  month  and  marry  his  cousin  Emma  "Wedgwood. 
QAnd  it  was  all  so  done.  One  commentator  said  he 
married  his  cousin  because  he  did  n't  know  any  other 
woman  that  would  have  him.  But  none  were  so  unkind 
as  to  say  that  he  married  her  in  order  to  get  rid  of  her, 
yet  Henslow  wondered  how  he  ceased  wooing  science 
long  enough  to  woo  the  lady.  Doubtless  the  parents  of 

173 


LITTLE  both  parties  had  something  to  do  with  the  arrange- 
JOURNEYS  ment,  and  in  this  instance  it  was  beautiful  and  well. 
0[  Darwin  was  married  to  his  work,  and  no  such  fallacy 
as  marrying  a  woman  in  order  to  educate  her  filled  his 
mind.  His  wife  was  his  mental  mate,  his  devoted 
helper  and  friend. 

It  is  no  small  matter  for  a  wife  to  be  the  friend  of  her 
husband.  Mrs.  Darwin  had  no  small  oval  aspirations 
of  her  own.  She  flew  the  futile  Four-o'clock  and 
made  no  flannel  nightgowns  for  Fijis.  Twenty  years 
after  his  marriage,  Darwin  wrote  thus  :  "  It  is  probably 
as  you  say — I  have  done  an  enormous  amount  of 
work.  And  this  was  only  possible  through  the  devotion 
of  my  wife,  who,  ignoring  every  idea  of  pleasure  and 
comfort  for  herself,  arranged  in  a  thousand  ways  to 
give  me  joy  and  rest,  peace  and  most  valuable  inspira- 
tion and  assistance.  If  I  occasionally  lost  faith  in 
myself  she  most  certainly  never  did.  Only  two  hours 
a  day  could  I  work,  and  these  to  her  were  sacred.  She 
guarded  me  as  a  mother  guards  her  babe,  and  I  look 
back  now  and  see  how  hopelessly  undone  I  should  have 
been  without  her." 

In  1842,  Darwin  and  his  wife  moved  to  the  village  of 
Down,  County  of  Kent.  The  place  where  they  lived 
was  a  rambling  old  stone  house  with  ample  garden. 
The  country  was  rough  &  unbroken,  and  one  might  have 
imagined  he  was  a  thousand  miles  from  London  instead 
of  only  twenty.  There  were  no  aristocratic  neighbors, 
no  society  to  speak  of.  With  the  plain  farmers  and  sim- 
ple folk  of  the  village  Darwin  was  on  good  terms.  He 
174 


became  treasurer  of  the  local  improvement  society,  and  LITTLE 
thereby  was  serenaded  once  a  year  by  a  brass  band.  JOURNEYS 
We  hear  of  the  village  rector  once  saying,  "  Mr.  Dar- 
win knows  botany  better  than  anybody  this  side  of 
Kew ;  and  although  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  he  seldom 
goes  to  church,  yet  he  is  a  good  neighbor  and  almost  a 
model  citizen."  Together  the  clergyman  and  his  neigh- 
bor discussed  the  merits  of  climbing  roses,  sweet  peas 
and  morning-glories.  Darwin  met  all  and  every  one  on 
terms  of  absolute  equality,  and  never  forced  his  sci- 
entific hypotheses  upon  any  one.  In  fact,  no  one  in  the 
village  imagined  that  this  quiet  country  gentleman  in 
the  dusty  gray  clothes  that  matched  his  full  iron-gray 
beard,  was  destined  for  a  place  in  Westminster  Abbey 
— no,  not  even  himself! 

Darwin's  father,  seeing  that  the  Government  had 
recognized  him,  and  that  the  scientific  societies  of 
London  were  quite  willing  to  do  as  much,  settled  on 
him  an  allowance  that  was  ample  for  his  simple  wants. 
{{On  the  death  of  Dr.  Darwin,  Charles  came  into  pos- 
session of  an  inheritance  that  brought  him  a  yearly 
income  of  a  little  over  five  hundred  pounds. 
Children  came  to  bless  this  happy  household — seven 
in  all.  With  these  Darwin  was  comrade  and  teacher. 
Two  hours  a  day  were  sacred  for  science,  but  outside 
of  this  time  the  children  made  the  study  their  own  and 
littered  the  place  with  their  collections  gathered  on 
heath  and  dale.  The  recognition  of  the  "holy  time" 
was  strong  in  the  minds  of  the  children,  so  no  prohi- 
bitions were  needed.  One  daughter  has  written  in 

175 


LITTLE  familiar  way  of  once  wanting  to  go  into  her  father's 
JOURNEYS  study  for  a  forgotten  pair  of  scissors.  It  was  the  "  holy 
time,"  and  she  thought  she  could  not  wait,  so  she  took 
off  her  shoes  and  entered  in  stocking-feet,  hoping  to  be 
unobserved.  Her  father  was  working  at  his  microscope 
— he  saw  her,  reached  out  one  arm  as  she  passed,  drew 
her  to  him  and  kissed  her  forehead.  The  guilty  little 
girl  never  trespassed  again — how  could  she,  with  the 
father  that  gave  her  only  love  ! 

That  there  was  no  sternness  in  this  recognition  of  the 
value  of  the  working  hours  is  further  indicated  in  that 
little  Francis,  aged  six,  once  put  his  head  in  the  door 
and  offered  the  father  a  sixpence  if  he  would  come  out 
and  play  in  the  garden. 

For  several  years  Darwin  was  village  magistrate. 
Most  of  the  cases  brought  before  him  were  for  poach- 
ing or  drunkenness.  "  He  always  seemed  to  be  trying 
to  find  an  excuse  for  the  prisoner,  and  usually  suc- 
ceeded," says  his  son  J>  Once  when  a  prosecuting 
attorney  complained  because  Darwin  had  discharged 
a  prisoner,  the  magistrate,  who  might  have  fined  the 
impudent  attorney  for  contempt  of  court,  merely  said,. 
"  Why,  he  's  as  good  as  we  are.  If  tempted  in  the  same 
way  I  am  sure  that  I  would  have  done  as  he  has  done. 
We  can't  blame  a  man  for  doing  what  he  has  to  do  !  " 
QThis  was  poor  reasoning  from  a  legal  point  of  view.. 
Darwin  afterward  admitted  that  he  did  n't  hear  much 
of  the  evidence,  as  his  mind  was  full  of  orchids,  but 
the  fellow  looked  sorry  and  he  really  could  n't  punish 
anybody  who  had  simply  made  a  mistake. 
176 


The  local  legal  lights  gradually  lost  faith  in  Magistrate 
Darwin's  peculiar  brand  of  justice — he  had  n't  much 
respect  for  law,  and  once  when  a  lawyer  cited  him  the 
criminal  code,  he  said,  "  Tut,  tut,  that  was  made  a 
hundred  years  ago!"  Then  he  fined  the  man  five 
shillings,  and  paid  the  fine  himself,  when  he  should 
have  sent  him  to  the  workhouse  for  six  months. 

ffy^®!?^ 

'HE  men  who  have  benefited  the  world 
most,  have,  almost  without  exception, 
been  looked  down  upon  and  depreciated 
by  the  priestly  class.  That  is  to  say,  the 
men  upon  whose  tombs  society  now 
carves  the  word  Savior,  were  outcasts 
and  criminals  in  their  day. 

In  a  society  where  the  priest  is  regarded  as  the  mouth- 
piece of  divinity — and  therefore  the  highest  type  of 
man — the  artist,  the  inventor,  the  discoverer,  the  gen- 
ius— the  man  of  truth — has  always  been  regarded  as  a 
criminal.  Society  advances  as  it  doubts  the  priest,  dis- 
trusts his  oracles,  and  loses  faith  in  his  institution. 
In  the  priest,  at  first,  was  deposited  all  human  knowl- 
edge, and  what  he  did  not  know  he  pretended  to  know. 
He  was  the  guardian  of  mind  and  morals,  and  the  cure 
of  souls.  To  question  him  was  to  die  here  and  be 
damned  for  eternity. 

The  problem  of  civilization  has  been  to  get  the  truth 
past  the  preacher  to  the  people — he  has  forever  barred 
and  blocked  the  way,  and  until  he  was  shorn  of  his 

177 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


LITTLE  temporal  power  there  was  no  hope.  The  prisons  were 
JOURNEYS  first  made  for  those  who  doubted  the  priest ;  behind 
and  beneath  every  episcopal  residence  were  dungeons; 
the  ferocious  and  delicate  tortures  that  reached  every 
physical  and  mental  nerve  were  his.  His  anathemas 
and  curses  were  always  quickly  turned  upon  the  strong 
men  of  mountain  or  sea  who  dared  live  natural  lives, 
said  what  they  thought  was  truth,  or  did  what  they 
deemed  was  right. 

Science  is  a  search  for  truth,  but  theology  is  a  clutch 
for  power. 

Nothing  was  so  distasteful  to  a  priest  as  freedom — a 
haPPv>  exuberant,  fearless,  radiant  and  self-sufficient 
man  he  both  feared  and  abhorred.  A  free  soul  was  re- 
garded by  the  Church  as  one  to  be  dealt  with.  The 
priest  has  ever  put  a  premium  on  pretense  and  hy- 
pocrisy. Nothing  recommended  a  man  more  than 
humility  and  the  acknowledgment  that  he  was  a  worm 
of  the  dust.  The  ability  to  do  and  dare  were  in  them- 
selves considered  proof  of  depravity.  The  education  of 
the  young  has  been  monopolized  by  priests  in  order  to 
perpetuate  the  fallacies  of  theology,  and  all  endeavor 
to  put  education  on  a  footing  of  usefulness  and  utility 
has  been  fought  inch  by  inch. 

Andrew  D.  White,  in  his  book,  "The  Warfare  ot 
Science  and  Religion,"  has  calmly  and  without  heat 
sketched  the  war  that  Science  has  had  to  make  to 
reach  the  light.  Slowly,  stubbornly,  insolently  the- 
ology has  fought  Truth  step  by  step — but  always  re- 
treating, taking  refuge  first  behind  one  subterfuge,  then 
178 


another.  When  an  alleged  fact  was  found  to  be  a  LITTLE 
fallacy,  we  were  told  it  was  not  a  literal  fact,  simply  a  JOURNEYS 
spiritual  one.  All  of  theology's  weapons  have  been 
taken  from  her  and  placed  in  the  Museum  of  Horrors 
— all  save  one,  social  ostracism.  And  this  consists  in  a 
refusal  to  invite  Science  to  indulge  in  cream-puffs.  We 
smile,  knowing  that  the  man  who  now  successfully 
defies  theology  is  the  only  one  she  really,  yet  secretly 
admires.  If  he  does  not  run  after  her,  she  holds  true 
the  poetic  unities  by  running  after  him.  Mankind  is 
emancipated  (or  partially  so). 

Darwin's  fame  rests,  for  the  most  part,  on  two  books, 
"The  Origin  of  Species  "  and  "  The  Descent  of  Man." 
Yet  before  these  were  published  he  had  issued  "  A 
Journal  of  Research  into  Geology  and  Natural  His- 
tory," "The  Zoology  of  the  Voyage  of  the  'Beagle,'" 
"A  Treatise  on  Coral  Reefs,"  "Volcanic  Islands," 
"  Geological  Observations,"  and  "A  Monograph  of  the 
Cirripedia."  Had  Darwin  died  before  "The  Origin  of 
Species"  was  published  he  would  have  been  famous 
among  scientific  men,  although  it  was  the  abuse  of 
theologians  on  the  publication  of  "  The  Origin  of 
Species  "  that  really  made  him  world  famous.  Alfred 
Russel  Wallace,  Darwin's  chief  competitor,  said  that 
"A  Monograph  on  the  Cirripedia"  is  enough  upon 
which  to  found  a  deathless  reputation. 
Darwin  was  equally  eminent  in  Geology,  Botany  and 
Zoology  ^  & 

On  November  24th,  1859,  was  published  "The  Origin 
of  Species."  Murray  had  hesitated  about  accepting  the 

179 


LITTLE  work,  but  on  the  earnest  solicitation  of  Sir  Charles 
JOURNEYS  Lyell,  who  gave  his  personal  guarantee  to  the  pub- 
lisher against  loss,  quite  unknown  to  Darwin,  twelve 
hundred  copies  of  the  book  were  printed. 
The  edition  was  sold  in  one  day,  and  who  was  sur- 
prised most,  the  author  or  the  publisher,  it  is  difficult 
to  say  &  jfi 

Up  to  this  time  theology  had  stood  solidly  on  the 
biblical  assertion  that  mankind  had  sprung  from  one 
man  and  one  woman,  and  that  in  the  beginning  every 
species  was  fixed  and  immutable.  Aristotle,  three 
hundred  years  before  Christ,  had  suggested  that  by 
cross-fertilization  and  change  of  environment,  new 
species  had  been,  and  were  being  evoked.  But  the 
Church  had  declared  Aristotle  a  heathen,  and  in  every 
school  and  college  of  Christendom  it  was  taught  that 
the  world  and  everything  in  it  was  created  in  six  days 
of  twenty-four  hours  each,  and  that  this  occurred  four 
thousand  and  four  years  before  Christ,  on  May  Tenth. 
Q  Those  who  doubted  or  disputed  this  statement  had 
no  standing  in  society,  and  in  truth  until  the  beginning 
of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  were  in  actual  danger  of 
death — heresy  &  treason  being  usually  regarded  as  the 
same  thing.  Erasmus  Darwin  had  taught  that  species 
were  not  immutable,  but  his  words  were  so  veiled  in 
the  language  of  poesy  that  they  went  unchallenged. 
But  now  the  grandson  of  Dr.  Erasmus  Darwin  came 
forward  with  the  net  result  of  thirty  years'  continuous 
work.  "The  Origin  of  Species"  did  not  attack  any  one's 
religious  belief — in  fact,  in  it  the  biblical  account  of 
180 


creation  is  not  once  referred  to.  It  was  a  calm,  judicial     LITTLE 
record  of  close  study  and  observation,  that  seemed  to     JOURNEYS 
prove  that  life  began  in  very  lowly  forms,  and  that  it 
has  constantly  ascended  and  differentiated,  new  forms 
and  new  species  being  continually  created,  and  that 
the  work  of  creation  still  goes  on. 

In  the  preface  to  "The  Origin  of  Species"  Darwin 
gives  Alfred  Russel  Wallace  credit  for  coming  to  the 
same  conclusion  as  himself,  and  states  that  both  had 
been  at  work  on  the  same  idea  for  over  a  score  of  years, 
but  each  working  separately,  unknown  to  the  other. 
C[  Andrew  D.  White  says  that  the  publication  of  Dar- 
win's book  was  like  plowing  into  an  ant-hill.  The 
theologians,  rudely  awakened  from  comfort  and  repose, 
swarmed  out  angry,  wrathful  and  confused.  The  air 
-was  charged  with  challenges,  and  soggy  sermons, 
books,  pamphlets,  brochures  and  reviews,  all  were 
flying  at  the  head  of  poor  Darwin.  Questions  that  he 
had  anticipated  and  answered  at  great  length  were 
flung  off  by  men  who  had  neither  read  his  book  nor 
expected  an  answer.  The  idea  that  man  had  evolved 
from  a  lower  form  of  animal  life  was  especially  con- 
sidered immensely  funny,  and  jokes  about  "  monkey 
ancestry,"  came  from  almost  every  pulpit,  convulsing 
the  pew  with  laughter. 

In  passing  it  may  be  well  to  note  that  Darwin  nowhere 
says  that  man  descended  from  a  monkey.  He  does, 
however,  affirm  his  belief  that  they  had  a  common 
ancestor.  One  branch  of  the  family  took  to  the  plains, 
and  evolved  into  men,  and  the  other  branch  remained 

181 


LITTLE  in  the  woods  and  are  monkeys  still.  The  expression, 
JOURNEYS  "the  missing  link"  is  nowhere  used  by  Darwin — that 
was  a  creation  of  one  of  his  critics. 
Wilberforce,  Bishop  of  Oxford,  summed  up  the  argu- 
ment against  Darwinism  in  the  " Quarterly  Review, ' '  by 
declaring  that  "  Darwin  was  guilty  of  an  attempt  to 
limit  the  power  of  God;"  that  his  book  "contradicts 
the  Bible;"  that  "it  dishonors  Nature."  And  in  a 
speech  before  the  British  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science,  where  Darwin  was  not  present,  the 
Bishop  repeated  his  assertions,  and  turning  to  Huxley, 
asked  if  he  really  were  descended  from  a  monkey, 
and  if  so,  was  it  on  his  father's  or  his  mother's  side! 
X  Q  Huxley  sat  silent,  refusing  to  reply,  but  the  audience 
began  to  clamor,  and  Huxley  slowly  arose  and  calmly 
but  forcibly  said:  "I  assert  and  I  repeat,  that  a  man 
has  no  reason  to  be  ashamed  of  having  an  ape  for  his 
grandfather.  If  there  were  an  ancestor  whom  I  should 
feel  shame  in  recalling,  it  would  be  a  man,  a  man  of 
restless  and  versatile  intellect,  who,  not  content  with 
success  in  his  own  sphere  of  activity,  plunges  into 
scientific  questions  with  which  he  has  no  real  ac- 
quaintance, only  to  obscure  them  by  an  aimless  rhet- 
oric, and  distract  the  attention  of  his  hearers  from  the 
real  point  at  issue  by  eloquent  digression  and  a  skillful 
\  appeal  to  religious  prejudices."  ^ 

Captain  Fitz-Roy,  who  was  present  at  this  meeting, 
was  also  called  for.  He  was  now  Admiral  Fitz-Roy, 
and  felt  compelled  to  uphold  his  employer,  the  State, 
so  he  upheld  the  State  Religion  and  backed  up  the 
182 


Bishop  of  Oxford  in  his  emptiness.  "  I  often  had  oc-  LITTLE 
casion  on  board  the  'Beagle'  to  reprove  Mr.  Darwin  JOURNEYS 
for  his  disbelief  in  the  First  Chapter  of  Genesis," 
solemnly  said  the  Admiral.  And  Francis  Darwin  writes 
it  down  without  comment,  probably  to  show  how 
much  the  Volunteer  Naturalist  was  helped,  aided  and 
inspired  by  the  Captain  of  the  Expedition. 
But  the  reply  of  Huxley  was  a  shot  heard  round  the 
world,  and  for  the  most  part  the  echo  was  passed 
along  by  the  enemy.  Huxley  had  insulted  the  Church, 
they  said,  and  the  adherents  of  the  Mosaic  account 
took  the  attitude  of  outraged  and  injured  innocence. 
Q  As  for  himself,  Darwin  said  nothing.  He  ceased  to 
attend  the  meetings  of  the  scientific  societies,  for  fear 
that  he  would  be  drawn  into  debate,  and  while  he  felt 
a  sincere  gratitude  for  Huxley's  friendship,  he  depre- 
cated the  stern  rebuke  to  the  Bishop  of  Oxford.  "It 
will  arouse  the  opposition  to  greater  unreason,"  he 
said  &  & 

And  this  was  exactly  what  happened.  Even  the  Eng- 
lish Catholics  took  sides  with  Wilberforce  the  Protes- 
tant, and  Cardinal  Manning  organized  a  society  "  to 
fight  this  new,  so-called  science  that  declares  there  is 
no  God  and  that  Adam  was  an  ape." 
Even  the  Non-Conformists  and  Jews  came  in,  and 
there  was  the  peculiar  spectacle  witnessed  of  the 
Church  of  England,  the  Catholics,  the  Non-Conform- 
ists and  the  Jews  aroused  and  standing  as  one  man, 
against  one  quiet  villager  who  remained  at  home  and 
said,  "  If  my  book  cannot  stand  the  bombardment,  why 

183 


LITTLE  then  it  deserves  to  go  down,  and  to  be  forgotten.'* 
JOURNEYS  QSpurgeon  declared  that  Darwinism  was  more  dan- 
gerous than  open  and  avowed  infidelity,  since  "the 
one  motive  of  the  whole  book  is  to  dethrone  God." 
Q Rabbi  Hirschberg  wrote,  "  Darwin's  volume  is  plaus- 
ible to  the  unthinking  person;  but  a  deeper  insight 
shows  a  mephitic  desire  to  overthrow  the  Mosaic  books 
and  bury  Judaism  under  a  mass  of  fanciful  rubbish." 
Q  In  America  Darwin  had  no  more  persistent  critic 
than  the  Rev.  DeWitt  Talmage.  For  ten  years  Dr. 
Talmage  scarcely  preached  a  sermon  without  refer- 
ence to  "monkey  ancestry ' '  and  "baboon unbelievers." 
QThe  New  York  "Christian  Advocate"  declared,  "Dar- 
win is  endeavoring  to  becloud  and  befog  the  whole 
question  of  truth,  and  his  book  will  be  of  short  life." 
Q  An  eminent  Catholic  physician  and  writer,  Dr.  Con- 
stantine  James,  wrote  a  book  of  three-  hundred  pages 
called  "Darwinism,  or  the  Man-Ape."  A  copy  of  Dr. 
James*  book  being  sent  to  Pope  Pius  IX.,  the  Pope 
acknowledged  .it  in  a  personal  letter  thanking  the 
author  for  his  "masterly  refutations  of  the  vagaries  of 
this  man  Darwin,  wherein  the  Creator  is  left  out  of 
all  things  and  man  proclaims  himself  independent,  his 
own  king,  his  own  priest,  his  own  God — then  degrad- 
ing man  to  the  level  of  the  brute  by  declaring  he  had 
the  same  origin,  and  this  origin  was  lifeless  matter. 
Could  folly  and  pride  go  farther  than  to  degrade  science 
into  a  vehicle  for  throwing  contumely  and  disrespect 
on  our  holy  religion ! " 

This  makes  rather  interesting  reading  now  for  those 
184 


who  believe  in  the  infallibility  of  popes.  So  well  did  LITTLE 
Dr.  James'  book  sell,  coupled  with  the  approbation  of  JOURNEYS 
the  Pope,  that  as  late  as  1882  a  new  and  enlarged 
edition  appeared,  and  the  author  was  made  a  member 
of  the  Papal  Order  of  St.  Sylvester.  It  is  quite  needless 
to  add  that  those  who  read  Dr.  James'  book  refuting 
Darwin  never  read  Darwin,  since  "The  Origin  of 
Species"  was  placed  on  the  Index  Expurgatorius  in 
1860.  Some  years  after,  when  it  was  discovered  that 
Darwin  had  written  other  books,  these  were  all  like- 
wise honored.  The  book  on  barnacles  being  called  to 
the  attention  of  the  Censor,  that  worthy  exclaimed, 
"  Some  new  heresy,  I  dare  say — put  it  on  the  Index!" 
And  it  was  so  done.  The  success  of  Dr.  James'  book 
reveals  the  popularity  of  the  form  of  reasoning  that 
digests  the  refutation  first,  and  the  original  proposition 
not  at  all. 

In  1875,  Gladstone  in  an  address  at  Liverpool  said, 
"  Upon  the  ground  of  what  is  called  evolution  God  is 
relieved  from  the  labor  of  creation  and  of  governing 
the  universe." 

Herbert  Spencer  called  Gladstone's  attention  to  the 
fact  that  Newton  with  his  law  of  gravitation,  and  the 
physical  science  of  astronomy  was  open  to  the  same 
charge.  Gladstone  then  took  refuge  in  the  "  Contempo- 
rary Review,"  and  retreated  in  a  cloud  of  words  that 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  subject. 
Thomas  Carlyle,  who  has  facetiously  been  called  a 
liberal  thinker,  had  not  the  patience  to  discuss  Darwin's 
book  seriously,  but  grew  red  in  the  face  and  hissed 

185 


LITTLE     in  falsetto  when  it  was  even  mentioned.  He  wrote  of 

JOURNEYS      Darwin  as  "  the  apostle  of  dirt,"  and  said,  "  He  thinks 

his  grandfather  was  a  chimpanzee,  and  I  suppose  he 

is  right — leastwise  I  am  not  the  one  to  deprive  him  of 

the  honor." 

Scathing  criticisms  were  uttered  on  Darwin's  ideas, 
both  on  the  platform  and  in  print  by  Dr.  Noah  Porter 
of  Yale,  Dr.  Hodge  of  Princeton,  and  Dr.  Tayler  Lewis 
of  Union  College.  Agassiz,  the  man  who  was  regarded 
as  the  foremost  scientist  in  America,  thought  he  had 
to  choose  between  orthodoxy  and  Darwinism,  and  he 
chose  orthodoxy.  His  gifted  son  tried  to  rescue  his 
father  from  the  grip  of  prejudice,  and  later  has  endeav- 
ored to  free  his  name  from  the  charge  that  he  could 
not  change  his  mind,  but  alas!  Louis  Agassiz's  words 
were  expressed  in  print,  and  widely  circulated. 
There  were  two  men  in  America  whose  names  stand 
out  like  beacon-lights  because  they  had  the  courage  to 
speak  up  loud  and  clear  for  Charles  Darwin  while  the 
pack  was  baying  the  loudest.  These  men  were  Dr.  Asa 
Gray,  who  influenced  the  Appletons  to  publish  an 
American  edition  of  "The  Origin  of  Species,"  and 
Professor  Edward  L.  Youmans,  who  gave  up  his  own 
brilliant  lecture  work  in  order  that  he  might  stand  by 
Darwin,  Spencer,  Huxley  and  Wallace. 
For  the  man  who  was  known  as  "  a  Darwinian  "  there 
was  no  place  in  the  American  Lyceum.  Shut  out  from 
addressing  the  public  by  word  of  mouth,  Youmans 
founded  a  magazine  that  he  might  express  himself,  and 
he  fired  a  monthly  broadside  from  his  "  Popular  Science 
186 


Monthly."  And  it  is  good  to  remember  that  the  faith  LITTLE 
of  Youmans  was  not  without  its  reward.  He  lived  to  JOURNEYS 
see  his  periodical  grow  from  a  confessed  failure — a 
bill  of  expense  that  took  his  monthly  salary  to  maintain 
— to  a  paying  property  that  made  its  owner  passing 
rich.  Gray,  too,  outlived  the  charge  of  infidelity,  and 
was  not  forced  to  resign  his  position  as  Professor  at 
Harvard,  as  was  freely  prophesied  he  would. 
As  for  Darwin  himself  he  stood  the  storm  of  misun- 
derstanding and  abuse  without  resentment  or  scorn. 
"Truth  must  fight  its  way,"  he  said,  "  and  this  gaunt- 
let of  criticism  is  all  for  the  best.  What  is  true  in  my 
book  will  survive,  and  that  which  is  error  will  be  blown 
away  as  chaff."  He  was  neither  exalted  by  praise  nor 
cast  down  by  censure.  For  Huxley,  Lyell,  Hooker, 
Spencer,  Wallace  and  Asa  Gray  he  had  a  great  and 
profound  love — what  they  said  affected  him  deeply, 
and  their  steadfast  kindness  at  times  touched  him  to 
tears.  For  the  great,  seething,  outside  world  that  had 
not  thought  along  abstruse  scientific  lines,  and  could 
not,  he  cared  little.  "How  can  we  expect  them  to  see 
as  we  do,"  he  wrote  to  Gray — "it  has  taken  me  thirty 
years  of  toil  and  research  to  come  to  these  conclusions. 
To  have  the  unthinking  masses  accept  all  I  say  would 
be  calamity.  This  opposition  is  a  winnowing  success, 
and  all  a  part  of  the  Law  of  Evolution  that  works  for 
good." 


187 


LITTLE      }>J^*^^^OR  forty  years  Darwin  lived  in  the  same 
JOURNEYS      ^P^E^  house  at  Down,  in  the  same  quiet,  simple 

way.  Here  he  lived  and  worked,  and  the 

world  gradually  came  to  him — figuratively 

and  literally. 

Gradually  it  dawned  upon  the  theologians 
that  a  God  who  could  set  in  motion  natural  laws  that 
worked  with  beneficent  and  absolute  regularity,  was 
just  as  great  as  if  He  had  made  everything  at  once  and 
then  stopped.  The  miracle  of  evolution  is  just  as  sub- 
lime as  the  miracle  of  Adam's  deep  sleep  and  the 
making  of  a  woman  out  of  a  man's  rib. 
The  faith  of  the  scientist  who  sees  order,  regularity, 
and  unfailing  law  is  quite  as  great  as  that  of  a  preacher 
who  believes  everything  he  reads  in  a  book.  The 
scientist  is  a  man  with  faith  plus. 

When  Darwin  died  in  1882,  the  words  Darwinism  and 
infidelity  were  no  longer  synonymous. 
The  discrepancies  and  inconsistencies  of  Darwin's 
theories  were  seen  by  him  as  by  his  critics,  and  he 
was  ever  willing  to  admit  the  doubt.  None  of  his 
disciples  were  as  ready  to  modify  their  opinions  as 
he.  "We  must  beware  of  making  science  dogmatic," 
he  once  said  to  Hseckel.  And  at  another  time  he  said, 
"  I  would  feel  I  had  gone  too  far  were  it  not  for  Wal- 
lace, who  came  to  the  same  conclusions,  quite  inde- 
pendent of  me."  Darwin's  mind  was  simple  and  child- 
like. He  was  a  student,  always  learning,  and  no  one 
was  too  mean  or  poor  for  him  to  learn  from. 
QThe  patience,  persistency,  and  untiring  industry  of 
188 


the  man,  combined  with  the  daring  imagination  that 
saw  the  thing  clearly  long  before  he  could  prove  it, 
and  the  gentle  forbearance  in  the  presence  of  unkindness 
and  misunderstanding,  won  the  love  of  a  nation.  He 
wished  to  be  buried  in  the  village  churchyard  at  Down, 
but  at  his  death,  by  universal  acclaim,  the  gates  of 
Westminster  swung  wide  to  receive  the  dust  of  the 
man  whom  bishops,  clergy  &  laymen  alike  had  reviled. 
Darwin  had  won,  not  alone  because  he  was  right,  but 
because  his  was  a  great  and  loving  soul — one  without 
resentment.  Archdeacon  Farrar,  quoting  Huxley,  said, 
"  I  would  rather  be  Darwin  &  be  right  than  be  Premier 
of  England — we  have  had  and  will  have  many  pre- 
miers, but  the  world  will  never  have  another  Darwin." 


LITTLE 
JOURNEYS 


189 


Formulas 
Bookbinders 


LOUIS  H.  KINDER 

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NATURE 

by 
RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON 

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anonymously,  at  which  time  the  author 
was  thirty-three  years  old.  In  this  book 
we  find  the  whole  work^of  the  greatest  of 
American  writers  foreshadowed.  It  is  a 
prospectus,  a  revelation  and  a  prophecy. 
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The  Man  of  Sorrows 

Being  a  Little  Journey 
to  the  home  of 

JESUS   OF   NAZARETH 

By  ELBERT  HUBBARD 

SINCERE  attempt  to  sketch  the 
life,  time,  and  teachings,  and  with 
truth  limn  the  personality  of  The 
Man  of  Sorrows. 

Printed  on  hand-made  paper,  from  a  new 
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PRICE    PER    VOLUME,        -         $2.OO 

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cause of  that  interesting  trifle,  "A  Message  to  Garcia."  But  it 
will  be  on  account  of  this  book,  "  The  Man  of  Sorrows."  Here 
is  a  limpid,  lucid  tale  of  a  man's  life  as  the  author  sees  it — told 
as  if  it  had  never  been  told  before — told  without  preaching;  in 
language  full  of  grace,  tenderness,  and  strong,  quiet  reserve. 
The  book  is  an  unconscious  bid  for  immortality. — Denver  Post. 

J" 


The  Grallery  of  Masterpieces 

^TjfS  the  most  re- 

**  markable  Art 
Publication  ever 
presented  in  Amer- 
ica, because  it  com- 
bines the  greatest 
beauty  of  repro- 
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minimum  of  cost. 


HE  collection  consists  of  fifty  pictures  (miniature  suggestions  of  one 
is  here  given)  and  represents,  by  a  new  and  secret  process,  the  finest 
works  of  the  world's  most  famous  painters  in  the  wonderful  art  period 
between  1400  and  1800. 

Each  photo-mezzotint  is  15x20  inches,  and  is  accompanied  by  a  page  of 
critical  notes  by  Sir  Martin  Conway,  Slade  Professor  of  Art,  Cambridge 
University. 

When  it  was  issued  in  Europe  this  work  caused  amazement  in  art  circles; 
it  seemed  incredible  that  such  exquisite  beauty  and  fidelity  of  repro- 
ductive tone  could  by  any  process  be  executed  and  delivered  to  the 
public  so  inexpensively. 

If  it  astonished  the  critical  it  delighted  art  lovers  in  general. 
It  solved  the  problem  how  to  enrich  the  home  with  the  refining  graces 
of  true  art  on  terms  that  are  within  the  means  of  the  most  careful  pur- 


chaser.  <{  And  yet  the  pictures  are  worthy  a  distinguished  place  in  the 

collection  of  the  most  discriminating  connoisseur. 

For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  art  a  collection  of  masterpieces  is 

open  to  the  possession  of  persons  of  taste  and  refinement  who  are  not 

millionaires. 

A    member  of  the   Royal  Academy,    London,  said   of  this  group  of 

Masterpieces:    "In  this   age,    when   so   many   inartistic   pictures   are 

constantly  appearing,  //»'*•  strit-x  n,m(s  as  a  boon  to  mankind,  and  should 

mean  thf-  dtthronemtnt.  of  the  hideous  productions  which  so  long  have 

occupied  a  place  on  our  walls." 

That  is  the  Mission  of  True  Art 

These  pictures  give  you  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  great  paintings 

that  have  been  for  centuries  the  inspiration  of  genius  and  the  spring  of 

culture. 

A  home  without  the  ennobling  influence  of  art  is  without  one  of  the 

greatest  benefactors  of  intelligent  society. 

The  photo-mezzotint  is  superior  to  the  best  etching  or  engraving.  The 

secret  of  this  remarkable  process  remains  with  the  European  publishers 

who  discovered   it.    We  are  the  sole  importers  for  America,  and  are 

prepared  to  furnish  the  pictures  at  a  price  surprising  to  all. 

The  publication  of  "  tCfje  <SalIerp  of  4Hastcrpictes>  "  allows  no  one  an  excuse 

for   not   having  a  home  collection  of  art  pictures  that  shall  be  both 

charming  and  educative  to  all  who  may  have  the  privilege  of  its  study 

and  enjoyment. 

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JUST  OUT  OF  THE  BINDERY 
The  Story  of 

Rip  Van  Winkle 

by  WASHINGTON  IRVING 

With  a  preface  by  JOSEPH  JEFFERSON, 
telling  how  he  became  interested  in  the  play 


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The  lollypop,  loblol- 
by,  lobscouse  loafers 
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KNOW  I  am  restless, and  make 

others  so; 

I  know  my  words  are  weapons, 
full  of  danger,  full  of  death; 
(Indeed  I  am  the  real  soldier; 
It  is  not  he,  there,  with  his  bayonet,  and 

not  the  red-striped  artilleryman;) 
For  I  confront  peace,  security,  and  all  the 

settled  laws,  to  unsettle  them; 
I  am  more  resolute  because  all  have  de- 
nied me,  than  I  could  ever  have  been 
had  all  accepted  me; 

I  heed  not,  and  have  never  heeded  either 
experience,  caution,  majorities,  nor 
ridicule; 

And  the  threat  of  what  is  call'd  hell  is  lit- 
tle or  nothing  to  me; 
And  the  lure  of  what  is  caird  heaven  is 

little  or  nothing  to  me; 
*  *  *  Dear   Camerado !   I   confess   I   have 
urged  you  onward  with  me,  and  still 
urge  you,  without  the  least  idea  what 
is  our  destination, 

Or  whether  we  shall  be  victorious,  or  ut- 
terly quell'd  and  defeated. 

—  Walt  Whitman 


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SEP   21  1935 


S?.-      .  ; 


SEP  231935 


*Hmtl 


lit  1  2 


LOAN 


TMt 


i^r 


DEC  6    '74 


LD  21-100/n-7,'33 


tfcl 


:     >  V\L 


